Der Hund. Der Tunnel. Die Panne. Erzählungen is a thin volume, Werkausgabe, Band 21, in the 30-vols. collected works of the Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt. In it three short stories are collected: Der Hund (Engl. "The Dog"), Der Tunnel (Engl. The Tunnel") and Die Panne (Engl. "The Breakdown"). The three stories are each written in a surrealist style.

Der Hund (Engl. "The Dog") was first published in 1952. It is a rather haunting story about a rich man, who chooses to live in poverty, separated from his wife, but accompanied b his daughter. Every day, he performs on the streets to read from the Bible. Not only does he attract an audience of listeners every day, and the attantion of the narrator, more sinister is that a large, grisly dog latches on to him, following him everywhere and into his home. One day, the dog attacks and kills the man. Then, the dog latches onto the daughter, following her around the streets. It would be quite appropriate to include this story in an anthology for horror stories (I do not know whether that has ever been considered.)

Der Tunnel (Engl. The Tunnel") is a very short story, indeed, which was also first published in 1952. Anyone may have given some thought to the idea, that each time a train rides into a tunnel, it might just as well never come out. We all know and expect to emerge out and into the light at the end of the tunnel, but what if the tunnel would just run on deeper and deeper into the darkness. Der Tunnel (Engl. The Tunnel") is a surrealist story of just that happening. It is a quite exhilarating, but very short story.

Die Panne (Engl. "The Breakdown"). It is the longest story and was published in English as A Dangerous Game in the UK, and Traps in the United States. It is a very interesting, surrealist story, first published in 1956. A sales representative, Alfredo Traps, is stranded in a village after his car has broken down. Rather than staying at a hotel, he accepts the invitation of a local person, to stay the night and join him for dinner with his friends. The friends are a group of retired judges and lawyers. They get together and while enjoying an excellent dinner, they play a game to plead the case of one of them. Traps gets involved and his words and stories are weighed and judged, until gradually, Traps feels cornered and starts believing in his own culpability.

The Dog, The Tunnel & Traps are three very well-written, somewhat sinister, surrealist stories. They are not very long, but excellent reading. ( )