The Deadly Game by Swiss playwright, novelist and critic Friedrich Dornmatt, translated by Iraqi journalist and translator Karim Hussein, is a novel that deals with the guilt of the individual, with coherent events, an exciting plot, an interesting style, and eccentric characters.
The novel is an indictment of the ruthless ambition that is the product of the development of our industrial world, and of the devastation that can result when selfish people pursue their own interests without any regard for how it affects others.
The "killer game" itself is a small and simple moral tale, an insight into personal values, but on a more stable level, a commentary on the norms and ethics of capitalist society in the twentieth century, and an important quote from the novel "The beauty of crime is essential to the beauty of justice. (q) There is no justice without crime."
Dürnmatt begins his story with some recounted ideas about the role of storytelling in the postwar world of Europe, concluding that "in our modern world, it is still possible to see the fundamental nature of man where some trivial tribulations accidentally affect the world and humanity appears vulgar, and even truth, justice and virtue may express themselves red-handed in the eyes of a drunken old man."
Hussein: The translation took more than two years due to the nature of my journalistic work and honestly conveyed the ideas of the writer he wanted to communicate to the reader (Al Jazeera)
The story of the novel
The theme of the novel is simple but multi-semantic about Traps, a mobile textile salesman who just got a promotion and a new car that breaks down in a distant town, presumably in Switzerland even though he could be in Germany, Austria or elsewhere.
Traps receives a free overnight stay in a lavish and comfortable private home owned by a former judge, and an invitation to a lavish dinner that night. The other guests turn out to be a defense lawyer, a prosecutor and a former executioner! At dinner, they aggressively engage in a game in which Traps is interrogated in a show trial.
The plot around the inattentive and arrogant traps trapped in the men's group seems exciting, and the mystery quickly settles slowly, leaving the reader wondering if the confessions were just a belated sense of guilt.
The translator, who has also published collections of short stories including "Don't Kill for Love, When Evil Wakes Up," says the novel came across him "as an indictment of the ruthless ambition that is a product of our industrialized and organized world, and of the devastation that can result when selfish people pursue their interest without any regard for how it influences."
Regarding his choice of novel, Karim Hussein says that he relies on feeling and being influenced by the content of these literary works, "so I chose this novel from among a group of novels that were in my hands at the start of translation because of its simple and exciting plot, interesting style, deep connotations and dramatic ending."
He adds to Al Jazeera Net, "It took more than two years to translate this novel for part-time translation because of the nature of my journalistic work, where I translate in my spare time, and translation has taken me a great effort and strenuous because of my keenness to come out every sentence and phrase in which the most wonderful possible, and to be accurate and professional and to convey honestly the main ideas that the writer wanted to deliver to the reader. "
Comedy and tragedy
Through the story, Dornmatt was able to combine his entertaining comedy style with tragedy, presenting us with strange and contradictory examples that express his confusion and confusion about the apparent ills and crises that plague our modern life.
Dornmatt in the United States around 1980 (Getty Images)
Dornmatt was adept at employing irony and sarcasm in his literary works, and he did so well that we could place him among the chosen elite of the geniuses of this art in the world.
He thought the world was unreasonable, but that did not lead him to despair because he was glimpsing on the horizon the radiance of hope even in the most severe moments.
His studies of philosophy and literature greatly influenced his artistic work in terms of form and content. It should be noted that Dornmatt worked in an important part of his life with painting. He has used this experience more than once in his literary works, such as the painter in The Old Lady's Visit, Schwefter and Neffenschwader's Meteorite.
The Swiss novelist's style was also provocative. There were certain groups that he liked to provoke, such as the clergy, the politician and the bourgeoisie, who enjoyed money but complained of an intellectual vacuum.
Dornmatt created his own kind of tragic comedy, a mixed form of tragedy and comedy, and believes that it is "the only dramatic form possible today to express tragedy."
In a text entitled "Theatrical Problems", he points out that tragedy presupposes "guilt, distress, moderation, outlook and responsibility" in order to achieve its goal, which is the purification of the individual. But in the complexity of the modern world, guilt is blurred and pushed aside.
There is no doubt that in most of his works Dürnmatt deals with philosophy and ethics, and sees life as terrible, blind, mortal and based on chance. For him, the world is nothing but a world that is terribly turbulent, in such a way that man does not know how to grope his way in life and see the reality before him.
His behaviour is based on chance or on an inevitability that he cannot understand. Through his works, Dornmatt seeks to convey to people the idea that the world needs solid facts on which it stands and does not need illusions and myths. The writer must understand this fact and create for people realistic and committed literature.