【Reading Notes】The Judge and His Executioner - Thoughts

The Judge and His Executioner is a crime novel written by the well-known Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt .

◇ Author: Friedrich Dürrenmatt

◇ First edition release date: March 31, 1951

◇ Original: German

◇ Genre: Mystery, Mystery, Crime Fiction

◇ Publisher: Der Schweizerische Beobachter

◆ Author: Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt is one of the most famous Swiss writers. He was also a painter and playwright. He was born in Konolfingen in 1921 and died in Neuenburg of a heart attack in 1990. Dylan Matt has made a name for himself in Swiss literary history for his well-known works and has received many honors. He has won many awards

His representative works include:

◇ "The Judge and His Executioner"

◇ "Physicist"

◇ "The Old Woman Returns Home"

◇ "Romulus the Great"

◇ "The Promise"

◆ The beginning of the story: Police officer Schmidt's death

In order not to tell anyone who has not read the judge and his executioner, here is a brief introduction to the judge and his executioner

On the morning of November 3, 1948, Alphons Clenin found Schmied (Ulrich Schmied) who was shot dead, so he told the protagonist Hans Bärlach of Schmidt's death. Bellach soon received an assignment from Chief Lucius Lutz to pursue the case. Because of Bellach's medical condition, the chief sent a young policeman named Tschanz to help Bellach. During the investigation, readers cannot know the heart of the characters, and it is more difficult to guess who is the judge and who is the executioner.

- If you want to know the follow-up plot, please buy the "The Judge and His Executioner" nest from the legitimate channel!

◆ Character introduction: Inspector Bärlach - Hans Bärlach

Inspector Bellach is an Inspector of the Criminal Police in Bern, Switzerland. He takes on the murder of Ulrich Schmidt and tracks down Schmidt's culprit.

Since 1933 he has lived in a house on Altenbergstrasse. In the story, Bellach is unmarried and over 60 years old. This will be his last case - he complains over and over again in the works about his stomach pain and needing surgery to live another year.

◆ Character introduction: Gastmann - Gastmann

As Bellach's lifelong foe, we can't learn much about Gastman from the books

We know - Gastman is a two-faced man, and the people of the village love him. I like his cooking skills, like he provides a place for everyone to meet, and more importantly, he pays taxes for the entire village. He is calm, shrewd and confident. In all this perfect setting no one ever knew or cared about who Gastman was in private. Except for Inspector Bellach

◆ Character Introduction: Tschanz

He is a crucial character in the story, and he is assigned as Bellach's assistant in the case. He is young and talented and has great ambitions for himself, and he longs to be seen, noticed and praised for his abilities. He is ambitious and willing to take risks, and is one of the few more naive people in this game.

◆ End

This book is a crime/detective novel that my teacher asked us to read last year, and for this we also made a "Kulturportfolio", so most of the content of this article is translated into Chinese from the Kulturportfolio I made earlier. One of my favorite passages in the book is what Bellach said to Gastman on the page about the back half of the book.

"Du wirst mich nicht töten. Ich bin der einzige, der dich kennt, und so bin ich auch der einzige, der dich richten kann. Ich habe dich gerichtet, Gastmann, ich habe dich zum Tode verurteilt. Du wirst den heutigen Tag nicht mehr überleben. Der Henker, den ich ausersehen habe, wird heute zu dir kommen. Er wird dich töten, denn das muß nun eben einmal in Gottes Namen getan werden."

The original German text looks a bit long but the gist is what I wrote in the top summary

"Gastman, you cannot kill me, I am the only one who knows you and the only one who can judge you. I have sentenced you to death, and you will not survive today. My executioner will come, and he will kill about you."

Although many people in our class find this book a bit boring, I think it's a very interesting book. The discussion of fairness and justice is also a point of interest to me. Plus I don't know if it's my problem, but I'm reading judges and His executioner always wondered what Gastman and Bellacher should say... Gay Gay seems to be rude but well, maybe I'm looking at people.

One last thing worth noting - at the time Dylan Matt wrote the book, the death penalty was no longer allowed in Switzerland, so Bellach, a police officer, lynched Gast without a clear proof of the crime. Man/ The execution of Gastman is also worth discussing

This article is here to pull it! This is my first time to write a book review. I found that the review experience is not easy to write because I have always been afraid to reveal the relationship between Gastman and Bellach. I don’t dare to write because their relationship is only announced very late in the plot. It’s right that they will always be tied up for various reasons. I’m still not familiar with it. What can be written and what shouldn’t be written. better!

Recommendation level of the judge and his executioner: ◆◆◆◆◇

Thanks for your time to read this post~! Have a great day!