“Accident” Dürrenmatt in summary
Alfredo Traps, the only representative of the company “Hephaeston” in Europe, drives through a small village and thinks about how he will work off with his business partner, who wants to draw from him an extra five percent. His car, a brand new Studebaker, stalls near the car repair shop. He leaves the car to the mechanic to pick it up the next morning, and leaves for the night in a country inn.
All hotels, however, are occupied by members of the union of stockbreeders. On the advice of the owner of one of them, Traps goes to the house of Mr. Verghe, who takes guests. Judge Verghe willingly agrees to shelter him at night, and completely free. In the judge’s house sit visitors, retired ministers of the law: prosecutor Tson, lawyer Kummer, Mr. Pile. Judge Werge asks her maid Simon not yet to prepare a guest room, as each guest in his house occupies a room depending on his character, but he did not have time to get to know Traps’s character yet. The judge
The court session begins at the same time as the dinner, which opens with tortoiseshell soup, followed by trout, Brussels salad, champignons in sour cream and other delicacies. At the interrogation, Traps reports that he is forty-five years old and is the main representative of the firm. Only a year ago he had an old car, Citroen, and now Studebaker, an extra model. Previously, he was an ordinary traveling salesman for textiles. He is married and has four children. His youth was harsh. He was born in the family of a factory worker. I could finish only primary school. Then for ten years he was trading peddling and went from house to house with a suitcase in his hand. Now he is the only representative of the firm that produces the best synthetic fabric that alleviates the suffering of rheumatics, perfect for parachutes, and for a spicy women’s nightgowns. This post was not easy for him. Before, I had to dump the old Gigas, his superior, who died last year of a heart attack.
Прокурор чрезвычайно рад тому, что удалось наконец раскопать покойника. Он надеется также обнаружить и убийство, которое Трапс совершил ко всеобщему удовольствию.
Адвокат просит Трапса, удивленного тем, что допрос, оказывается, уже начат, выйти с ним покурить в сад. По его мнению. Трапс делает все, чтобы проиграть процесс. Адвокат рассказывает ему, почему они с друзьями решили затеять эту игру. Выйдя в отставку, эти служители закона немного растерялись, когда оказались в новой для себя роли пенсионеров, безо всяких занятий, кроме обычных старческих радостей. Когда они начали играть в эту игру, то сразу же воспрянули духом. Они играют в эту игру каждую неделю с гостями судьи. Иногда это уличные торговцы, иногда отдыхающие. Возможность смертной казни, которую государственное правосудие отменило, делает их игру невероятно увлекательной. У них есть даже палач – это господин Пиле. До выхода на пенсию он был одним из самых талантливых мастеров этого дела в одной из соседних стран. Трапс внезапно пугается. Затем разражается смехом и уверяет, что без палача ужин был бы гораздо менее веселым и увлекательным. Вдруг Трапс слышит чей-то крик. Адвокат говорит ему, что это Тобиас, который отравил свою жену и пять лет назад был приговорен судьей Верге к пожизненному заключению. С тех пор он живет в специально отведенной для пожизненно заключенных комнате как гость. Адвокат просит признаться Трапса, действительно ли он убил Гигаса? Трапс уверяет, что он тут ни при чем. Он высказывает свое предположение о цели игры, которая, по его мнению, состоит в том, чтобы человеку стало жутко, игра показалась реальностью, а обвиняемый стал бы себя спрашивать, не является ли он и в самом деле преступником. Но он-то невиновен в смерти старого жулика.
They return to the dining room. They are met by the noise of voices and laughter. The interrogation is resumed. Traps reports that Gigas died of a heart attack. He also admits that he learned about his sick heart from his wife, with whom he had something. Gigas often traveled and obviously disdained his very seductive spouse. Therefore, from time to time, Traps had to portray a comforter. After the death of Gigas, he no longer visited this lady. I did not want to compromise the widow. For the judge, his words are tantamount to admitting his own guilt. Further with the accusatory speech the public prosecutor acts and so skillfully and correctly recreates a course of events, that to Trapsu it is necessary to dissolve only hands from surprise at a kind of perspicacity of the public prosecutor. The prosecutor talks about Gigas, that the deceased was a man walking through the streets, the means he used, sometimes were not too clean. In public, he played the role of a big guy, a successful businessman. Gigas was convinced of the faithfulness of his wife, but, in an effort to succeed in business, began to neglect this woman. He was deeply impressed by the news of his wife’s infidelity. His heart could not stand the brutal blow that was planned and carried out by Traps, who made sure that the news of his wife’s betrayal certainly reached his ears. In a conversation with the prosecutor, Traps finally looks truth in the face and admits, to the indignation of his lawyer, that he really is a murderer, and insists on it. He is sentenced to death. His heart could not stand the brutal blow that was planned and carried out by Traps, who made sure that the news of his wife’s betrayal certainly reached his ears. In a conversation with the prosecutor, Traps finally looks truth in the face and admits, to the indignation of his lawyer, that he really is a murderer, and insists on it. He is sentenced to death. His heart could not stand the brutal blow that was planned and carried out by Traps, who made sure that the news of his wife’s betrayal certainly reached his ears. In a conversation with the prosecutor, Traps finally looks truth in the face and admits, to the indignation of his lawyer, that he really is a murderer, and insists on it. He is sentenced to death.
The executioner Pile takes him to a room intended for him, where he sees the guillotine from the judge’s collection, and he is enveloped in a horror similar to that which occurs in criminals before a real execution. However, Pile puts Traps in bed, and he immediately falls asleep. Having woken up in the morning, Traps has breakfast, sits down in his car and, as if nothing had happened, with the same thoughts about his business partner that his head was busy on the eve of a car breakdown, leaves the village. About yesterday’s dinner and court, he remembers as an extravagant whim of retirees, marveling to himself, to the fact that he imagines himself a murderer.
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