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A review by thegingerbreadhag
Dehors devant la porte: une pièce qu'aucun théâtre ne voudra jouer et qu'aucun public ne voudra voir by Wolfgang Borchert
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.5
I bought this book for a class, cancelled the class and left the book accumulating 2 years worth of dust on my shelves before picking it up, trying to decide whether to keep it or give it away. I'm glad I decided to read it. It's a crazy emotional and frustrating book. Emotional because the main character is a German soldier coming back home after spending 3 years as a soldier in Russia. Everything has changed, he has no home or homeland, he's just a living ghost. Contemplating suicide, the Other, God, and the Young Woman are trying to convince him that life is worth living.
Frustrating because the dialogues aren't dialogue : looking for hope, he only finds closed doors, indifferent people and guiltless military officers who have no answer for the countless deaths, the main character's need for help, for his need of understanding war and its terror. Both murderers and murdered men, both alive and dead or dying, the answer is nothing. No one has one, because nothing can be said in the face of war's aftermath. The play leave us wondering what good is hope when we're confronted to useless massive deaths, nightmares, disenchantment and estrangement. What good is hope in front of the close doors of people that are just trying to get on living ? And what happens when you can't go on living ?
Simply gutwrenching.
Frustrating because the dialogues aren't dialogue : looking for hope, he only finds closed doors, indifferent people and guiltless military officers who have no answer for the countless deaths, the main character's need for help, for his need of understanding war and its terror. Both murderers and murdered men, both alive and dead or dying, the answer is nothing. No one has one, because nothing can be said in the face of war's aftermath. The play leave us wondering what good is hope when we're confronted to useless massive deaths, nightmares, disenchantment and estrangement. What good is hope in front of the close doors of people that are just trying to get on living ? And what happens when you can't go on living ?
Simply gutwrenching.