The Left-Handed Woman (Masterplots II: World Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Handke
- First Published: 1976
- Type of Work: Philosophical realism
- Time of Work: 1975-1976, from winter to spring
- Setting: An unnamed city in West Germany
- Principal Characters: Marianne, Bruno, Stefan, Jurgen, Grandfather, Franziska, Ernst, The Chauffeur, The Actor, The Salesgirl
- Genres: Long fiction, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: 1970’s, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Marriage, Women’s issues, Loneliness, Germany or German people, Parties
- Locales: West Germany
The Novel
Peter Handke tells the story of a woman determined to break with her husband and her past and to form a new life for herself. Marianne, a mother and hausfrau in her thirtieth year, begins to examine her life keeping house in the suburbs of a large industrial city in West Germany. Her husband, Bruno, who works as sales manager for a porcelain company, is due to return from an extended business trip to Scandinavia. Her eight-year-old son, Stefan, is a student who is working on an essay entitled “My Idea of a Better Life.” The theme of his essay apparently...
[The entire page is 2663 words long]
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