''The Execution of Justice'' (german: Justiz) is a 1985 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 ...

. It tells the story of an attorney who is tasked to reinvestigate a man sentenced for murder. The book criticises elements of the legal system and ponders on the nature of justice. It was adapted into the 1993 film ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

'', directed by

Hans W. Geißendörfer Hans W. Geißendörfer (born 6 April 1941 in Augsburg) is a German film director and producer. Director of '' The Glass Cell'' (1978, starring Brigitte Fossey), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and 16 oth ...

Reception

Ursula Hegi Ursula Hegi (born May 23, 1946) is a German-born American writer. She is currently an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton. She was born Ursula Koch in 1946 in Düsseldorf, Germany, a city that was heavily bombed during World ...

reviewed the book in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'': "Durrenmatt focuses more on politics than on the characters who play bizarre roles in the machinery of Swiss justice. He is highly critical of his country that 'withdrew from history when it went into big business. . . . Our country's ideals were always practical ones . . . an immoral but healthy way of life.' He looks at pompous manners and traditions, at corruption so smooth that it has worked its way into everyday life." Hegi wrote about the plot: "As the murder is reinvestigated, the act of violence is removed from theory, and only the theory is dealt with--a clean, passionless residue that has less and less to do with the crime. And this is what happens to justice too--it becomes detached from its source, loses its reason for being and exhausts itself in a game." The critic also wrote: "Despite his focus on politics, Durrenmatt has the gift to create unforgettable characters within a few lines".

References

External links

''The Execution of Justice''
at the publisher's website 1985 novels Novels by Friedrich Dürrenmatt Swiss novels adapted into films Diogenes Verlag books {{1980s-crime-novel-stub

Reception

See also

References

External links