The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick Summary
by Peter Handke

The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick presents, on one level, a psychological case study of a man undergoing an apparent schizophrenic break-down. The novel, which is written in the third person, follows the former soccer goalie turned construction worker, Joseph Bloch, as he wanders around the city of Vienna, commits a senseless murder of a cashier, and finally flees to a small Austrian border village. The plot is minimal, and the narrative focuses primarily on the character’s disturbed perceptions of his surroundings.

The novel begins as Bloch enters the workers’ hut on the construction site where he has been employed. It becomes immediately clear that his perception of reality is disturbed. The former goalie interprets an insignificant occurrence—that no one looks up to greet him when he walks in—to mean that he has been fired from the job, and he goes to collect his final paycheck. He tends to find meaning in random objects and gestures. A woman adjusting her skirt as she sits in a car is read as being some kind of answer or reply to him. In his agitated and disoriented state, Bloch walks around the city, compulsively reading newspapers and sitting in motion-picture theaters. These activities seem to make him feel more comfortable.

He follows Gerda, a theater cashier, home, and they spend the night together. In the morning, Bloch is extremely disturbed, unable to visualize the objects in his surroundings or carry on even a simple conversation. Suddenly and without reason, he strangles the young woman. After the murder, he buys a bus ticket to the border town where a former girlfriend owns a small inn. The difficulties with the perception and interpretation of his environment continue. As a drop...