Abstract: This essay is an introduction to Der Tunnel by the Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt, first published in 1952 and revised in 1978. Several interpretations are offered: a theological one ‒ the most recurrent in critical studies – reads the sad fate of the protagonist (i.e. of all humanity) as the will of a punitive God; a sociological one, influenced by the intuitions of hermeneutics, is intertwined with a historical and cultural reading, which sees the story as a reflection of the difficulties of the Cold War and of Dürrenmatt’s tormented relationship with his homeland. Most of all, Der Tunnel is the story of a writer’s struggle between the respect for literary tradition and his own creative force, which will later lead him to rewrite his own rules of art.
