Homo Faber Study Guide

Homo Faber

Homo Faber by Max Frisch

Homo Faber is a 1957 novel by Max Frisch with themes of fate, technology versus humanity and love. Walter Faber impregnates his lover Hanna, who does not wish to marry him and, agrees to have an abortion. Years later, Faber begins an affair with a young woman named Sabeth. On a hunch, he inquires about her mother and discovers that she is actually his and Hanna's daughter, who was never aborted. Sabeth dies in Greece after falling off of a cliff and Faber reunites with Hanna before dying.

Homo Faber Characters

Table of Contents
  • Walter Faber is the protagonist of Homo Faber . He is an engineer and technologist who works for UNESCO. Born and educated in Switzerland, he now lives in an apartment in New York City, but travels extensively for work throughout Europe and South America. Walter has never been married.
  • Sabeth , or Elisabeth, is the 20-year-old daughter of Walter and Hanna. Born in Switzerland, she believes that Joachim is her father. She speaks English, German, and French.
  • Hanna Piper (née Landsberg) is the German-born half-Jewish mother of Sabeth. Formerly Walter's lover, she married Joachim, and then later married Herrn Piper. She works at an art institute in Athens, Greece.
  • Joachim Henke was Walter's German born friend, who was studying to be a doctor. He married Hanna, but they separated after she refused to have any more children with him. Sabeth believes that he is her father. After separating from Hanna, Joachim joined the German army and fought in World War II; Hanna and Sabeth never saw him again. Decades later, he moved to Guatemala to run a tobacco plantation. A few weeks after arriving, he committed suicide.
  • Herbert Henke is Joachim's brother, who meets Walter on a plane. He is employed by the same company that sent Joachim to Guatemala.
  • Ivy is Walter's married American mistress, who comes to New York once a week to see Walter and her psychiatrist.

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