sheer straightforward commitment to the highest value of decency and civilization that are the hallmarks of the writer and craftsman as well as the man." Esslin, who translated some of Hochwälder's plays into English, also commented on the juxtaposition of violent themes with a humanistic message. "Again and again the message that his plays leave with the attentive reader and spectator is one of the humanity, forgiveness, reconciliation, and a refusal to fall into the trap set by the violent to the nonviolent, of converting them to their own methods." Esslin, who coined the term "Theatre of the Absurd", may well have found compelling Hochwälder's often paradoxical plot twists. For example, Der Himbeerpflücker (The Raspberry Picker, 1965) shows how the leaders of an Austrian town mistake a small town crook for a Nazi war criminal and treat him as a returning hero. This play was undoubtedly a homage to Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, but Hochwälder was able to put his own historical spin and moral message on the saga of mistaken identity. Although Hochwälder spent most of his life after the war in Switzerland, he was buried in Vienna. Honours and awards 1955 City of Vienna Prize for Literature 1956 Grillparzer Prize 1962 Anton Wildgans Prize 1966 Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature 1971 Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class 1972 Ring of Honour of the City of Vienna 1979 Franz Theodor Csokor Award 1980 Austrian Decoration for Science and Art Works Die unziemliche Neugier (1934; published in 1979) Esther (1940) Das heilige Experiment (1942) Hôtel du Commerce (1944) Meier Helmbrecht (1946) Der öffentliche Ankläger (1948) Donadieu (1953) Die Herberge (1955) Der Unschuldige (1958) Donnerstag (1959) Holokaust.(Totengericht) (1960; published 1998) 1003 (1963) Der Himbeerpflücker (1964) Der Befehl (1968) Lazaretti oder Der Säbeltiger (1973) Die Prinzessin von Chimay (1982) Der verschwundene Mond (1982) Die Bürgschaft (1984) Donnerstag. Roman (1995) References Baker, R. Paul (2001) A Question of Conscience: The Dramas of Fritz Hochwälder. Dunedin: Department of German, University of Otago. Best, Alan (1995). "Fritz Hochwälder: Overview." Reference Guide to World Literature, 2nd ed., edited by Lesley Henderson, St. James Press. Republished in Literature Resource Center. Online. Accessed April 5, 2006. [Essay on Web site]. Daviau, Donald G. “Fritz Hochwälder” in Major Figures of Modern Austrian Literature (1984), ed. Daviau. Riverside, California: Ariadne. Feinberg, Anat (2002). "Fritz Hochwälder " in Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and