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Stiller by Frisch
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January 8, 2026
I first encountered Max Frisch at school: Homo Faber, and then read his early diary. This had an impact and made me keep German as A-Level subject. I stumbled upon Stiller over these Xmas holidays and then read it more or less in one go.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol.” I think is the central motive of the novel and a quote from the ten commandments. And from Frisch’s 46-49 diary. “If you form a picture of the loved person, the love ends.”English is superior to German where “idol” is just translated as “image”.
The main part of the book is the exploration of Stiller’s life without Stiller being present a kind of negative-image of the absent character. Stiller disappeared, and White, the narrator, is identified as Stiller at the Swiss border and jailed. While in jail and waiting for his trial, he meets all friends / relatives of Stiller who all subtly push him to accept his mistaken Stiller identity. White falls in love with Stiller’s wife, Julika, and explores the infidelities of their fractured marriage, infidelities including a relationship between Stiller and the wife of White’s attorney (“Staatsanwalt”). Frisch’s voice is sharp like a knife when he describes tensions and encounters between the many couples and love affairs in the novel. Yes, who makes images/idols in the way White (and Frisch) do, creates a challenge for loving relationships. He makes White the “observer” who “protocols” the world of Stiller and importantly Julika, his love. In great detail White explores the breaking up of Stiller with Julika (as told to him by Julika when she sees White in prison). The break up unfolds while she is in a sanctuary for lung diseases. White is more forgiving when he tells of his own life, deeds and deep failings. Frisch digs at Swiss nepotism by letting White, the accused, make friends with the attorney, also allowing him to travel in Switzerland. The novel converges in White finally accepting to the outside that he is Stiller, following a ruling of the courts. He fills the empty form he built of Stiller as documented in his prison notes. But like Stiller, he fails to truly love Julika, Stiller’s wife once released from prison after accepting the identity of Stiller. A short postscriptum from the attorney, his friend, describes White’s life after becoming Stiller and living with Julika in humble circumstances in a rural deprecated house. As White did in the US, earlier, with his then partner. Julika finally succumbs to her lung disease and dies, while White/Stiller painfully experiences that he could not love, reach and connect with her. And lives alone. Like he always had? Like White had? Like almost everyone in the book? White/Stiller/Frisch have similar life experiences, the novel is somewhat autobiographical, the structure of the book as a diary of notes with time stamps scattered around the text similar to his own published diaries.
A great novel to provoke thinking about love, and identity. With a sharp eye on relationships and society. A book on incapable men?
“You shall not make for yourself an idol.” I think is the central motive of the novel and a quote from the ten commandments. And from Frisch’s 46-49 diary. “If you form a picture of the loved person, the love ends.”English is superior to German where “idol” is just translated as “image”.
The main part of the book is the exploration of Stiller’s life without Stiller being present a kind of negative-image of the absent character. Stiller disappeared, and White, the narrator, is identified as Stiller at the Swiss border and jailed. While in jail and waiting for his trial, he meets all friends / relatives of Stiller who all subtly push him to accept his mistaken Stiller identity. White falls in love with Stiller’s wife, Julika, and explores the infidelities of their fractured marriage, infidelities including a relationship between Stiller and the wife of White’s attorney (“Staatsanwalt”). Frisch’s voice is sharp like a knife when he describes tensions and encounters between the many couples and love affairs in the novel. Yes, who makes images/idols in the way White (and Frisch) do, creates a challenge for loving relationships. He makes White the “observer” who “protocols” the world of Stiller and importantly Julika, his love. In great detail White explores the breaking up of Stiller with Julika (as told to him by Julika when she sees White in prison). The break up unfolds while she is in a sanctuary for lung diseases. White is more forgiving when he tells of his own life, deeds and deep failings. Frisch digs at Swiss nepotism by letting White, the accused, make friends with the attorney, also allowing him to travel in Switzerland. The novel converges in White finally accepting to the outside that he is Stiller, following a ruling of the courts. He fills the empty form he built of Stiller as documented in his prison notes. But like Stiller, he fails to truly love Julika, Stiller’s wife once released from prison after accepting the identity of Stiller. A short postscriptum from the attorney, his friend, describes White’s life after becoming Stiller and living with Julika in humble circumstances in a rural deprecated house. As White did in the US, earlier, with his then partner. Julika finally succumbs to her lung disease and dies, while White/Stiller painfully experiences that he could not love, reach and connect with her. And lives alone. Like he always had? Like White had? Like almost everyone in the book? White/Stiller/Frisch have similar life experiences, the novel is somewhat autobiographical, the structure of the book as a diary of notes with time stamps scattered around the text similar to his own published diaries.
A great novel to provoke thinking about love, and identity. With a sharp eye on relationships and society. A book on incapable men?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review