Ein Jeder wird nach seinem Mass gerichtet - Richter, gerichtete und die Gerechtigkeit in D"urrenmatts Kriminalromanen

Abstract

In the course of their chronological appearance, Durrenmatt's crime novels deviate gradually from the conventional thrillers. The detective's strive for justice becomes progressively inhibited by unpredictable events until in the last book the author depicts a chaotic world in which evil triumphs. Since man is incomplete, any order that he establishes is as incomplete. The state's representatives of justice are therefore incapable of performing their task and purrenmatt's detectives appoint themselves to be judges beyond legal justification. In order to be just at any rate, Durrenmatt's self-appointed judges exceed their competences by breaking the same law which they claim to defend and, in so doing, turn against society just as their criminal opponents. The conflict between human incompleteness and absolute justice that Durrenmatt depicts cannot be solved and exists as a metaphor for the incapability of man to comprehend the complexity of the world in which he lives.