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Peter Handke

    December 6, 1942

    Peter Handke is an Austrian novelist and playwright known for his avant-garde contributions. His work delves deeply into the human psyche and the world, often emphasizing subjective experience and linguistic experimentation. Handke's texts explore the boundaries of perception and communication, playing with both form and content. His literary significance lies in his continuous search for new modes of expression and profound contemplation on the essence of existence.

    Peter Handke
    Crossing the Sierra de Gredos
    Voyage to the Sonorous Land, Or, The Art of Asking ; And, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other
    Weight of the World
    2 x Handke
    Ride Across Lake Constance and Other Plays
    Jukebox and Other Essays on Storytelling
    • 2022

      Quiet Places

      • 304 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      3.6(18)Add rating

      "A collection of literary essays by Nobel laureate Peter Handke"--

      Quiet Places
    • 2022

      The Fruit Thief

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading
      3.3(70)Add rating

      "A novel describing the wanderings of a young woman called "the fruit thief" through northern France"--

      The Fruit Thief
    • 2020

      Weight of the World

      • 256 pages
      • 9 hours of reading
      4.1(41)Add rating

      This journal blends professional notes and personal reflections, capturing Handke's life in Paris from late 1975 to early 1977. It features informal jottings and deeper meditations, highlighting encounters with notable figures like Truffaut and Goethe, as well as Handke's poignant observations on strangers and his complex bond with his daughter. A significant hospital stay also prompts contemplations on mortality, revealing his ongoing anxieties about life and death.

      Weight of the World
    • 2020

      The book features three introspective meditations by Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke, exploring themes of memory and identity as he navigates from Alaska to his Austrian childhood. Through this self-reflexive journey, Handke delves into the nuances of the writing process, offering a profound reflection on the interplay between place and personal history.

      Jukebox and Other Essays on Storytelling
    • 2020

      This collection features six plays by Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke, showcasing his early career as an Austrian playwright. The works reflect his innovative approach to language and form, exploring themes of identity, existence, and the human experience. Handke's unique narrative style and profound insights into the complexities of life are evident throughout these plays, offering readers a glimpse into the foundational elements that shaped his later acclaimed works.

      Ride Across Lake Constance and Other Plays
    • 2020

      Moment of True Feeling

      • 144 pages
      • 6 hours of reading
      3.8(16)Add rating

      The narrative follows Gregor Keuschnig, who, after a haunting nightmare of committing murder, decides to embrace a dual existence. This choice sets him on a path of introspection and exploration of identity, as he navigates the complexities of his new life. Handke delves into themes of guilt, reality, and the human psyche, creating a thought-provoking story that examines the boundaries between truth and illusion.

      Moment of True Feeling
    • 2020

      Crossing the Sierra de Gredos

      • 480 pages
      • 17 hours of reading

      In this visionary novel, Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke offers descriptions of objects, relationships, and events that teach readers a renewed way of seeing; he creates a wealth of images to replace those lost to convention and conformity. On the outskirts of a northwestern European river port city lives a powerful woman banker, a public figure admired and hated in equal measure, who has decided to turn from the worlds of high finance and modern life to embark on a quest. Having commissioned a famous writer to undertake her "authentic" biography, she journeys through the Spanish Sierra de Gredos and the region of La Mancha to meet him. As she travels by all-terrain vehicle, bus, and finally on foot, the nameless protagonist encounters five way stations that become the stuff of her biography and the biography of the modern world, a world in which genuine images and unmediated experiences have been exploited and falsified by commercialization and by the voracious mass media. Crossing the Sierra de Gredos is a very human book of yearning and the ancient quest for love, peopled with memorable characters (from multiple historical periods) and imbued with Handke's inimitable ability to portray universal, inner-worldly adventures that blend past, future, present, and dreamtime.

      Crossing the Sierra de Gredos
    • 2020

      At the end of 1960, Filip Kobal decides to go in search of an older missing brother whom he has never known. What he discovers when he crosses the border from Austria into Slovenia is not so much a person as a whole history and culture.

      Repetition
    • 2020

      On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House

      • 194 pages
      • 7 hours of reading
      3.1(21)Add rating

      Renowned for its impactful storytelling, this novel showcases the exceptional talent of a prominent German author. It offers a brief yet profound exploration of themes that resonate deeply with readers, highlighting the author's mastery in crafting compelling narratives. The work stands out as a significant contribution to contemporary literature, reflecting the nuances of human experience through a succinct and powerful lens.

      On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House
    • 2019

      Absence

      • 118 pages
      • 5 hours of reading
      3.4(133)Add rating

      A “challenging and rewarding novel”* from Nobel Prize-winning author Peter Handke.The time is an unspecified modernity, the place possibly Europe. Absence follows four nameless people -- the old man, the woman, the soldier, and the gambler -- as they journey to a desolate wasteland beyond the limits of an unnamed city.“In this smoothly written fable, Handke forcefully summons readers to the recognition that the essence of human life lies in the striving for self-expression even though its perfect realization must always remain elusive.”―* Publishers Weekly"A remarkably abstract book even for the very abstract Handke... Slippery but engrossing work, silkily translated." - Kirkus Reviews

      Absence