The first, spanning 1946 to 49, emerged by necessity, when Frischs design practice didnt permit him the leisure to write at length. But with a second volume (1966 to 71) and a posthumous third (written in the early 1980s), the sketchbook became his trademark form, and one that now, in our vogue for the private and motley, gives the once world-famous, now rather neglected Frisch a new life. Thanks to the independent Indian publisher Seagull, whose bold cosmopolitanism never ceases to impress, all three are now in print once more, the first two recently retranslated by Simon Pare, and the last translated for the first time by Mike Mitchell in 2013. The translations are limpid and engaging. . . . Whats revealed in these sketchbooks is just that patient good sense, an unflappable, unapologetic humanitythough marked by an ambivalent quietism, an old-world politeness, a concreteness and skepticism that can only be described as Swiss. * Wall Street Journal *
