Der Doppelgänger

Almost my favorite dramatist. He is sharp and short, he is satirical and absurd, he starts conventional and ends with a surprise even in the shortest stories. “Short” sometimes means half a page. Reading this compilation of stories I asked myself again and again: how can he have so many ideas? Unbelievable! This collection is called “Der Doppelgänger” (The double), which is the name of one of the stories. I guess the collection in rather arbitrary, selected and put together by the publisher. Nevermind, just try to read his short stories and I personally recommend following theatre plays: “Tango” and “At Sea”. Now I could write about these plays I am very passionate about. But will restrain myself and at least mention some of the stories in this collection here. The first one is called “Compassion”, it is about a professional who invents his own miserable life in order to generate the compassion of his listeners. These listeners feel then much better about themselves in comparison to himself. Another one is “The Double”. A tyrant died, he had a double who acted in many occasions on behalf of the tyrant. Now, the old followers of the tyrant and at the same time the followers of the new regime come to the the house of the double to kill him since the people does not want to be reminded to the tyrant’s face. And … and … and .. there are so many ideas in it.