Handke, Peter (Vol. 5) - Handke, Peter 1942?–
Handke, Peter 1942?–
Handke, an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet, and essayist, is considered an exciting writer earning international stature.
Wunschloses Unglück [published in English as A Sorrow Beyond Dreams] is a sensitive account of the life of Peter Handke's mother, a life which ended in suicide. It is an attempt both at writing about her and recording the difficulties of doing so….
The work is dominated by a single aesthetic imperative: not to sell reality short, not to become "reified into some machine for manufacturing memories or stereotypes". The resultant novel operates on two levels (rather in the self-analytical manner of Der Hausierer): the unadorned account of this woman's life and a commentary on the shortcomings of the biography as it develops. Certain misgivings are voiced at length before the account begins, and the narrative is interrupted every so often when the author feels that his material...
[The entire page is 4833 words long]
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