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Michael Frayn
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The Copenhagen Papers: An Intrigue Kindle Edition

by Michael Frayn (Author), David Burke (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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In a brilliant coda to the play Copenhagen, Michael Frayn receives mysterious letters that take him back to the theme of his bestselling novel, Headlong -- human folly, this time his own.

Michael Frayn's Copenhagen has established itself as one of the finest pieces of drama to grace the stage in recent years. The subject of the Tony-winning play is the strange visit the German nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg made to his former mentor, scientist Niels Bohr, in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen and the quarrel that ensued. Heisenberg's intentions on that visit, for good or for evil, have long intrigued and baffled historians and scientists. One day, during the British run of Copenhagen, Frayn received a curious package from a suburban housewife, which contained a few faded pages of barely legible German writings. These pages, which she claimed to have found concealed beneath her floorboards, seemed to cast a remarkable new light on the mystery at the heart of play. As more material emerged -- specifically notes that appeared to give instructions on how to put up a table-tennis table but perhaps containing important encoded information -- actor David Burke, who was playing Niels Bohr, began to display extreme, even suspicious interest in Frayn's growing obsession with cracking the riddle of the papers. And Frayn, for his part, lost all sense of certainty. Was he the victim of an elaborate hoax? By turns comic and profound, The Copenhagen Papers explores the conundrum that is always at the heart of Frayn's work -- human gullibility and the eternal difficulty of knowing why we do what we do.

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  1. Print length
    113 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Metropolitan Books
  4. Publication date
    January 4, 2003
  5. File size
    3.5 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While Frayn's play Copenhagen won three Tony awards in 2000 (including best play), and the London playwright has Noises Off and the Booker Prize finalist Headlong to his credit, he doesn't enjoy the same name recognition here as does, say, a native like David Mamet. Interest in this Copenhagen spinoff project may thus depend on readers' willingness to delve into the arcana of physics and history, and into the working lives of the playwright and of Burke, a leading player in the London run of Copenhagen. The play itself concerns a mysterious 1941 meeting in the Nazi-occupied Danish capital between Werner Heisenberg, head of the covert Nazi nuclear program, and Niels Bohr (played by Burke), his former mentor. After the war, Heisenberg was interned by the British for six months at an estate called Farm Hall so the Allies might learn how far the German program had gotten events also covered in the play. This book concerns a mysterious package Frayn received during the play's London run, from "Celia Rhys-Evans," saying that she had seen the play, and that during a stay at Farm Hall in the '60s she had found some papers written in German that must be relevant. The crumpled papers appeared to make a joke about Ping-Pong and uranium 235. In true British style, it turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by Burke, revealed by a third person just as Frayn was about to go to the papers. Still with us? Most American readers won't be, though as Frayn and Burke trade chapters and it becomes clear who knew what when, there are plenty of verbal and intellectual pleasures to be had.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This series of monologs in two acts is a collaboration between Frayn, the celebrated British author and playwright, and Burke, an actor in Frayn's Tony Award-winning play Copenhagen. This comic and intriguing drama grew out of Burke's skillful hoax about a mysterious package of manuscripts found at Farm Hill near London, where German nuclear physicists were interned after World War II. Because of his intense curiosity and the possible historic relevance of these incomprehensible German and Russian documents to his play, Frayn became the target of Burke's tricks. The plot thickens as more people become involved in the prankster's deception and the victim's search for truth. Finally, a conscientious second actor of the original cast exposes Burke's forgeries. For resolution, Frayn and Burke devised this ingenious book about human gullibility and the incomprehensibility of one's own behavior. Recommended for academic and public libraries as a companion to the original play. Ming-ming Shen Kuo, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009OZN7Q6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books; First edition (January 4, 2003)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 4, 2003
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.5 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 113 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

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Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn

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Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the Guardian and the Observer. His novels include Towards the End of the Morning, The Trick of It and Landing on the Sun. Headlong (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his most recent novel, Spies (2002), won the Whitbread Novel Award. His fifteen plays range from Noises Off to Copenhagen and most recently Afterlife.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
16 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Alice
    5.0 out of 5 stars Adds an interesting dimension to the play Copenhagen
    Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This delightful book should be required reading for anyone who has seen or read Michael Frayn's play "Copenhagen." The actor David Burke (who starred in the play) and playwright Frayn describe their reactions to a baffling set of German papers that seem to have been written during Werner Heisenberg's stay at a British estate after World War II. Although I am not going to give away the truth as it unfolds in this story (the editorial reviews above do that), I will say that the point of the book is not so much whether the papers were geniune or a hoax as it is the depths to which talented, bright, curious people such as Frayn and Burke will go as they wrestle with fascinating ideas. These two men bring to vivid life the dramas behind the dramas.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Lawrence D. Bohan
    4.0 out of 5 stars for the play afficionados
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2020
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    Nicely written narrative that makes one hope for a dramatic surprise... but only a logical end occurs. Should cost $5
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  • ArT
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Tour de Force with a Couple of Tricksters
    Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2020
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    When two brilliant people decide to gaslight each other, watch out! What's real? You mean he said that? Where's the evidence? Who's on first?

    A must-read.
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  • N. Sankaran
    4.0 out of 5 stars Nifty curiousity
    Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2013
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    Almost too clever but in an engaging way that appealed. I don't think I'd like much more in this vein, but the hoax if it was perpetrated the way described must have been fun for those involved.
    One person found this helpful
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  • A reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating piece of a larger puzzle!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2010
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    I loved this book because I happened to read it within the contexts of Mr. Frayn's other contemporaneous work. Here's what I suggest for an utterly intriguing run of books: read Frayn's Copenhagen, Headlong, The Copenhagen Papers, and Spies in that order. I suppose his most recent book of philosophy The Human Touch would top it off conceptually. But the four works preceding are one multi-faceted puzzle. Loved them all... together!!
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  • James E. Beckman
    4.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected
    Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2001
    I thought COPENHAGEN was a great play, and I picked up this
    book thinking it was background for the play (the bookjacket
    gives some hints that that isn't the case, but I didn't bother
    to read that. Anyway, it turns out to be less than that, and
    also much more. I was sucked into the mystery along with
    Michael Frayn, and read it in one sitting (it's short). I
    highly recommend it for pure entertainment.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • M. Anderson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A real twist -- must be read after the play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2014
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    Anything more said would be a spoiler. But if you enjoyed the play Copenhagen and were fascinated by the real history questions it opens, this is the most delicious dessert you could have after it.
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  • Catherine Skidmore
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a companion to the play...
    Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2001
    Verified Purchase
    I loved the play Copenhagen - saw it four times, and it re-sparked my interest in physics, which I read about as a hobby. I know, weird, but whatever, I'm a smart chick.
    Anyway, this book isn't about the play at all, really, it's about an exchange of letters between the author and one of the actors in the London production of Copenhagen. And it's well-crafted, I think anyone who enjoys a good mystery, and a bit of the backstage goings-on would enjoy the book. It certainly captivated me and both Michael Frayn and David Burke write well and with a good deal of dry British humor.
    7 people found this helpful
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