''A Dangerous Game'' is a 1956 novel by the Swiss writer

Friedrich Dürrenmatt Friedrich Dürrenmatt (; 5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-g ...

. Its original German title is ''Die Panne'', which means "The breakdown". It is known as ''Traps'' in the United States. It tells the story of a traveller who, when his car breaks down, is invited for dinner by a former judge, after which nightmarish developments follow. The work was initially written as a radio play, but was adapted into prose almost immediately. It won the 1956 Blind War Veterans’ Prize for best radio play and the literary award of the newspaper ''Tribune de Lausanne''.

Plot

Alfredo Traps, a sales representative, whose car breaks down during a trip in the provinces, finds lodging for the night in a house of a retired judge. The host invites Traps to participate in a game that the judge and his three friends—a former prosecutor, defense attorney and public hangman—play over dinner. The game in question is a pretend trial in which Traps will be the defendant. During the cross-examination it transpires that he may have caused the death of his boss from a heart attack. He also carried on an affair with the boss’ wife. The prosecutor then charges Traps with premeditated murder. After heated closing arguments, the judge sentences Traps to death. The retired agents of justice then thank Traps for being a good sport, and ask the former executioner to escort the guest upstairs to his room. Later, when they deliver the written verdict to Traps’ room, they discover that he has hanged himself.

Inspiration

In a 1960 interview with Jean-Paul Weber, Dürrenmatt said he was inspired by a short story by

Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

but couldn't remember which one. Peter Spycher tried to identify the story and suggested that "Le Voleur" in the volume ''Mademoiselle Fifi'' might be the one Dürrenmatt had in mind. Armin Arnold also suggested that another source of inspiration was

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

's novel '' The Four Just Men'', published in 1905.

Versions

The work was initially written as a radio play, but Dürrenmatt adapted it into prose almost immediately. The main difference between the two versions is the ending. In the radio-play version, Traps gets up in the morning, collects his repaired car and drives away completely unperturbed by the last night’s trial. In the prose version, he hangs himself after receiving his death sentence, leaving the old men dismayed that he has taken their game too far and ruined their perfect evening. In 1979, Dürrenmatt reworked the material again, this time for stage. In the end, Traps receives two verdicts: a "metaphysical" one of guilt and a "juristic" one of innocence. The judge lets him decide which one he prefers. Traps ends up shooting and hanging himself.

Adaptations

Stage

* ''The Deadly Game'' (1960, American play by James Yaffe) * '' Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe'' ''(Silence! The Court Is in Session)'' (1967,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

play written by

Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...

)

Film and TV

*''Die Panne'' (1957, German TV film directed by

Fritz Umgelter Fritz Umgelter (18 August 1922 – 9 May 1981) was a German television director, television writer, and film director. Umgelter worked mainly in television as both a writer and director. He received directing credit for 68 TV films or series, a ...

) *''Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe'' ''(Silence! The Court Is in Session)'' (1971, Indian

Marathi-language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state of Goa. It is one of t ...

film directed by

Satyadev Dubey Satyadev Dubey (13 July 1936 – 25 December 2011) was an Indian theatre director, actor, playwright, screenwriter & film director. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1971. He won the 1978 National Film Award for Best Scre ...

) *'' The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life'' (1972, Italian film directed by Ettore Scola) * ''Avariya'' (''The Breakdown'') (1974, Soviet TV film directed by Vytautas Zalakevicius) * '' The Deadly Game'' (1982, American-British TV film directed by George Schaefer based on James Yaffe's play) * ''

Male Nilluvavarege ''Male Nilluvavarege'' is a 2015 Indian Kannada film directed by Mohan Shankar and starring himself. The movie is based on L S Sudhindra's Kannada drama adaptation of the English play '' The Deadly Game''. Cast * Mohan Shankar as Mohan * Kav ...

'' (2015, Indian

Kannada-language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

film directed by Mohan Shankar) *''Wrong turn'' ( 2019 zee rangmanch theatre hindi film directed by Ishan Trivedi) *''

Chehre ''Chehre'' () is a 2021 Hindi mystery thriller film directed by Rumi Jaffery and produced by Anand Pandit with Saraswati Entertainment Private Limited. Starring Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi in lead roles, the film features Krystle D'Souz ...

'' (2021, Indian film directed by Rumy Jafrey) *'' Anusandhan'' (2021, Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

language film directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee)

References

External links

''A Dangerous Game''
at the publisher's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dangerous Game, A 1956 novels German-language novels Novels by Friedrich Dürrenmatt Jonathan Cape books Swiss novels adapted into plays Swiss novels adapted into films Swiss novels adapted into television shows