"My plays are made up of long monologues, which is similar to prose working with the language." -- Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek () (born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."
"As is said about most writers: on the one hand all I ever did from when I was a child was read, and I was a loner, which was furthered by my parents and my upbringing.""Eroding solidarity paradoxically makes a society more susceptible to the construction of substitute collectives and fascisms of all kinds.""I cannot stand public attention, I just can't. Of course, if I may I might write something instead.""I do not fight against men, but against the system that is sexist.""I do not want to have the feeling of writing "for eternity," so to speak.""I have the feeling it will influence my future writing to the extent that without any material worries I could develop a greater ease, even lightheartedness, in my writing.""I think isolation is one of the greatest problems, an ever-growing obstacle to political solidarity.""I would gladly do it but I am suffering from social phobia. I cannot manage being in a crowd of people.""It could draw from a greater reservoir of freedom. The irony could develop an even greater ease.""Literature that keeps employing new linguistic and formal modes of expression to draft a panorama of society as a whole while at the same time exposing it, tearing the masks from its face - for me that would be deserving of an award.""My training in music and composition then led me to a kind of musical language process in which, for example, the sound of the words I play with has to expose their true meaning against their will so to speak.""The government has once again made the right socially acceptable.""The problem is that it is difficult to translate."
Jelinek was born on October 20, 1946, in Mürzzuschlag, Styria, Austria. She was raised in Vienna by her Romanian-German mother and Czech-Jewish father (whose surname "Jelinek" means "little deer" in Czech). Her father was a chemist, who managed to avoid persecution during the Second World War by working in strategically important industrial production. However, several dozen family members became victims of the Holocaust. Her mother, with whom she shared the household even as an adult, and with whom she had a difficult relationship, was from a formerly prosperous Vienna family. As a child, Elfriede suffered from what she considered an over-restrictive education in a Roman Catholic convent school in Vienna. Her mother planned a career for her as a musical wunderkind. Elfriede was instructed in piano, organ, guitar, violin, viola and recorder from an early age. Later, she went on to study at the Vienna Conservatory, where she graduated with an organist diploma. Jelinek also studied art history and drama at the University of Vienna. However, she had to discontinue her studies due to an anxiety disorder that prevented her from following courses.
Jelinek started writing poetry at a young age. She made her literary debut with the collection Lisas Schatten in 1967.
She married Gottfried Hüngsberg on 12 June 1974; she has no children.
Her work was largely unknown outside the German-speaking world before she won the Nobel Prize, and it was said to resemble that of acclaimed Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard. In fact, despite the author's own differentiation from Austria, Jelinek's writing is deeply rooted in the tradition of Austrian literature, showing the influence of Austrian writers such as Ingeborg Bachmann and Robert Musil.
Jelinek's political positions, in particular her feminist stance and her Communist Party affiliations, are of vital importance to any assessment of her work. They are also a part of the reason for the controversy directed at Jelinek and her work.
Brief history of Jelinek's political engagements
Jelinek was a member of Austria's Communist Party from 1974 to 1991. She became a household name during the 1990s due to her vociferous clash with Jörg Haider's far-right Freedom Party. Following the 1999 National Council elections and the subsequent formation of a coalition cabinet consisting of the Freedom Party and the Austrian People's Party, Jelinek became one of the new cabinet's most vocal critics. Many foreign governments moved swiftly to ostracize Austria's administration, citing the Freedom Party's alleged nationalism and authoritarianism. The cabinet construed the sanctions against it as directed against Austria as such, and attempted to prod the nation into a national rallying (Nationaler Schulterschluss) behind the coalition parties. This provoked a temporary heating of the political climate severe enough for dissidents such as Jelinek to be accused of treason by coalition supporters.
Jelinek also petitioned for the release of Jack Unterweger, who was imprisoned for the murder of a prostitute, and who was regarded by intellectuals and politicians as an example of successful rehabilitation. Unterweger murdered ten more women within two years of his release, and committed suicide after his arrest.
Jelinek's work
Jelinek's work is multi-faceted and highly controversial. It has been by turns praised and condemned by leading literary critics. In the wake of the Fritzl case, for example, she was accused of "executing 'hysterical' portraits of Austrian perversity". Likewise, her political activism encounters divergent and often heated reactions. Despite the controversy surrounding her work, Jelinek has won many distinguished prizes; among them are the Georg Büchner Prize in 1998; the Mülheim Dramatists Prize in 2002 and 2004; the Franz Kafka Prize in 2004; and the Nobel Prize in Literature, also in 2004.
Female sexuality, its abuse, and the battle of the sexes in general are prominent topics in her work. Texts such as Wir sind Lockvögel, Baby! (We are Decoys, Baby!), Die Liebhaberinnen (Women as Lovers) and Die Klavierspielerin (The Pianist) showcase the brutality and power play inherent in human relations in a style that is at times ironically formal and tightly controlled. According to Jelinek, power and aggression are often the principal driving forces of relationships. Her provocative novel Lust contains graphically-delineated descriptions of sexuality, aggression and abuse. It received poor reviews by many critics, some of whom considered it little more than pornography, but was considered misunderstood and undervalued by others, who noted the power of the cold descriptions of moral failures.
In her later work, Jelinek has somewhat abandoned female issues to focus her energy on social criticism in general, and Austria's difficulties in admitting to its Nazi past in particular; an example is Die Kinder der Toten (The Children of the Dead).
Her plays often emphasise choreography. In Sportstück, for example, the issue of violence and fascism in sports is explored. Some consider her plays taciturn, others lavish, and others still a new form of theatre altogether.
Jelinek's novel, Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Player), was filmed as The Piano Teacher by Austrian director Michael Haneke, with French actress Isabelle Huppert as the protagonist.
In late April 2006, Jelinek spoke out to support Peter Handke, whose play Die Kunst des Fragens (The Art of Asking) was removed from the repertoire of the Comédie-Française for his alleged support of Slobodan Milo?evi?.
Jelinek said she felt very happy to receive the Nobel Prize, but she also felt "despair for becoming a known, a person of the public". Known for her modesty and subtle self-irony, she — a reputed feminist writer — wondered if she had not been awarded the prize mainly for "being a woman", and suggested that among authors writing in German, Peter Handke, whom she praises as a "living classic", would have been a more worthy recipient.
Jelinek was criticized for not accepting the prize in person; instead, a video message was presented at the ceremony. Others appreciated how Jelinek revealed that she suffers from agoraphobia and social phobia, paranoid conditions that developed when she first decided to write seriously. Both conditions are anxiety disorders which can be highly disruptive to everyday functioning yet are often concealed by those affected, out of shame, or feelings of inadequacy. Jelinek has said that her anxiety disorders make it impossible for her to go to the cinema or board an airplane (in an interview she wished to be able to fly to New York to see the skyscrapers one day before dying), and she felt incapable of taking part in any ceremony. However, she stated in another tape message: "I would also very much like to be in Stockholm, but I cannot move as fast and far as my language."
In 2005, Knut Ahnlund left the Swedish Academy in protest, describing Jelinek's work as "whining, unenjoyable public pornography", as well as "a mass of text shovelled together without artistic structure". He said later that her selection for the prize "has not only done irreparable damage to all progressive forces, it has also confused the general view of literature as an art".
wir sind lockvögel baby!; Reinbek 1970 ISBN 349912341X
Michael. Ein Jugendbuch für die Infantilgesellschaft; Reinbek 1972 ISBN 3499250128
Die Liebhaberinnen; Reinbek 1975 ISBN 3499250640
Die Ausgesperrten; Reinbek 1980 ISBN 349803314X
Die Klavierspielerin; Reinbek 1983 ISBN 3498033166
Oh Wildnis, oh Schutz vor ihr; Reinbek 1985 ISBN 3499134071
Lust; Reinbek 1989 ISBN 3498033239
Die Kinder der Toten; Reinbek 1997 ISBN 3499221616
Greed; Reinbek 2000 ISBN 349923131X
Neid: Privatroman; 2007
Plays
Was geschah, nachdem Nora ihren Mann verlassen hatte; oder Stützen der Gesellschaften (What Happened after Nora Left Her Husband; or Pillars of Society) premiered in Graz, Austria (October 1979) With Kurt Josef Schildknecht as director.
Clara S, musikalische Tragödie (Clara S, a Musical Tragedy) Premiered at Bonn (1982)
Burgtheater. Posse mit Gesang (Burgtheater. Farce with Songs) Premiered at Bonn (1985)
Begierde und Fahrererlaubnis (Desire and Permission To Drive - Pornography) Premiered at the Styrian Autumn, Graz (1986)
Krankheit oder Moderne Frauen. Wie ein Stück (Illness or Modern Women. Like a Play) Premiered at Bonn, (1987) ISBN 9783922009887
Präsident Abendwind. Ein Dramolett, sehr frei nach Johann Nestroy (President Abendwind. A dramolet, very freely after Johann Nestroy) Premiered at the Tyrol Landestheater, Innsbruck (1992)
Wolken. Heim (Clouds. Home) Premiered at Bonn (1988) ISBN 9783882431476
Totenauberg. Premiered at the Vienna Burgtheater (Akademietheater) (1992) ISBN 9783498033262
Rastätte oder Sie machens alle. Eine Komödie (Service Area or They're All Doing It. A Comedy) Premiered at the Burgtheater, Vienna (1994)
Stecken, Stab und Stangl. Eine Handarbeit (Rod, Staff, and Crook - Handmade) Premiered at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg (1996)
Ein Sportstück (A Sport Play) Premiered at the Burgtheater, Vienna (1998)
er nicht als er (zu, mit Robert Walser) (him not himself - about/with Robert Walser) Premiered at the Salzburg Festival in conjunction with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg (1998)
Das Lebewohl (Les Adieux) Premiered at the Berliner Ensemble (2000)
Das Schweigen" ("Silence") Premiered at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg (2000)
Der Tod und das Mädchen II (Death and the Maiden II) Premiered at EXPOL 2000 in Hanover in conjunction with the Saarbrücken Staatstheater and ZKM Karlsruhe (2000) ISBN 9783442761623
MACHT NICHTS - Eine Kleine Trilogie des Todes ("NO PROBLEM - A Little Trilogy of Death") Premiered at the Zürich Schauspielhaus (2001) ISBN 9783499226830
In den Alpen ("In the Alps") Premiered at the Munich Kammerspiele in conjunction with the Zürich Schauspielhaus (2002) Berlin: Berlin Verlag. (2002) 259 pages. ISBN 9783827004574
Der Tod und das Mädchen I-III und IV-V (Dramas of Princesses: Death and the Maiden I-III and IV-V) Parts I-III premiered at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg (2002) Parts IV-V premiered at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin (2002)
Das Werk. (The Works) Premiered at the Vienna Burgtheater (Akademietheater) (2003)
Bambiland Premiered at the Burgtheater, Vienna (2003) ISBN 9783498032258
Irm und Margit A part of "Attabambi Pornoland" Premiered at the Zürich Schauspielhaus (2004)
Ulrike Maria Stuart Premiered at Thalia Theater Hamburg (2006)
Über Tiere 2006
Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel) 2008
Die Kontrakte des Kaufmanns. Eine Wirtschaftskomödie (2009)
Translations
Die Enden der Parabel (Gravity's Rainbow) novel by Thomas Pynchon; 1976
Herrenjagd Drama by Georges Feydeau; 1983
Floh im Ohr Drama by Georges Feydeau; 1986
Der Gockel Drama by Georges Feydeau; 1986
Die Affaire Rue de Lourcine Drama by Eugène Labiche; 1988
Die Dame vom Maxim Drama by Georges Feydeau; 1990
Der Jude von Malta Drama by Christopher Marlowe; 2001
Ernst sein ist alles Drama by Oscar Wilde; 2004
Lyrik und Kurzgeschichten (latein)amerikanischer AutorInnen
Opera libretto
Lost Highway (2003), adapted from the film by David Lynch, with music by Olga Neuwirth
Jelinek's novels in English
The Piano Teacher (1988), translation of Die Klavierspielerin by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 9781555840525.
Wonderful, Wonderful Times (1990), translation of Die Ausgesperrten by Michael Hulse. London: Serpent's Tail, ISBN 9781852421687.
Lust (1992), translated by Michael Hulse. London: Serpent's Tail, ISBN 9781852421830.
Women as Lovers (1994), translation of Die Liebhaberinnen by Martin Chalmers. London: Serpent's Tail, 1994, ISBN 1852422378.
Greed (2006), translation by Martin Chalmers. Serpent's Tail, ISBN 185242902X.
