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A great page-turner; an unconventional novel.
An excellent psychography of the modern city dweller.
An ordinary working man suddenly senses that all his world is falling apart. He "reacts" to this with apathy and the conduction of a murder that has no apparent motive; noattempt is made to rationalize it. All of a sudden, he is a murderer.He then goes on moving from place to place, looking without seeing, focusing on detailsrather thanon meanings. He passivelywaits for what is to come, without really thinking about it. The ending is sublime... ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Four stars for Cymbeline?
In reading and enjoying Handke's work I've been in good company:he's been shortlisted for a Nobel a few times (his politics may make that award an impossibility now) and Harold Bloom considered him one of the "writers of the century"in The Western Canon.True to his supposed avant-gardist status, his styles and forms have been Protean, but common threads in many (Weight of the World, My Year in the No-Man's Bay, On a Dark Night...), this one included, play up his remarkable powers of observation in nature, his subtle and meticulous identification of the connections between outer world and inner consciousness.His style in these has been a "seemingly casual tone, in which every word bears indispensible weight" (Kai Maristed) creating "..a kind of associative philosophical meditation that both maps and manifests the movements of mind."(Sven Bikerts)

I'm personally uncomfortable with the term avant-garde;I prefer to think the very best writers, from Joyce and Proust to the late Gilbert Sorrentino, are not only great craftsmen but formal innovators,re-inventing fiction and pressing language into service it simply hadn't performed before.Gauguin averred that if art isn't revolutionary, it's not art;whatever your definitions, literary art in its most vibrant forms needn't be further labeled. At any rate, Crossing the Sierra de Gredos is both typical, easily recognizable Handke and something new and full of surprises,recalling Chaucer and maybe Swift and Cervantes.Even paragraph by paragraph, there is a playful stylistic richness of invention.I was baffled by some passages, even extended passages--some seemingly satiric episodes escaped me entirely--but I was enraptured or delighted by others.

It is a testament to the power of this writer that, even though I have several books now waiting to be read that are surely excellent--short stories by Edward P. Jones, John Williams' Stoner,Solnit's Storming the Gates of Paradise, Seidel's Ooga-Booga,they all will probably be a step down from Handke.

So there may be some unevenness in Crossing the Sierra de Gredos, representing an attempt that's not fully successful, but Handke is Handke.Cymbeline can be regarded as inferior only in comparison with other Shakespeare plays, and Handke needn't be made to compete with himself. With apologies to the new translation of Pomuk's Black Book, even slightly-flawed Handke may be the best thing I read all year.So five stars.

Classic Handke
Once described as an author whose goal was to write in a completely different manner than his last book, Handke now produces a text that is typically, predictably unpredictable. A narrative set in timeless-modern-day, Handke crafts a medieval allegory of the pilgrim's journey of self-discovery. Long-time Handke readers will enjoy the twist and turns while readers new to Handke may want to consider an earlier text. Part Ulysses, part Canterbury Tales, all Handke. Not for the fainthearted reader. Enjoy! ... Read more

Book Description
Peter Handke's mother was an invisible woman. Throughout her life—which spanned the Nazi era, the war, and the postwar consumer economy—she struggled to maintain appearances, only to arrive at a terrible recognition: "I'm not human any more." Not long after, she killed herself with an overdose of sleeping pills.

In A Sorrow Beyond Dreams her son sits down to record what he knows, or thinks he knows, about his mother's life and death before, in his words, "the dull speechlessness—the extreme speechlessness" of grief takes hold forever. And yet the experience of speechlessness, as it marks both suffering and love, lies at the heart of Handke's brief but unforgettable elegy. This austere, scrupulous, and deeply moving book is one of the finest achievements of a great contemporary writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Very Sorrowful
Peter Handke's slim memoir is necessarily sorrowful; it is about his mother's suicide. She was a survivor of the holocaust, and like many survivors, suffered from severe depression in the subsequent years. Handke's tone is cold, removed, and sepulchral. This is a vivid and moving text; it can not be easily categorized. It is non-fiction, but it is composed with the eye of a true artist.

Not a read for everyone, but definitely an impressive effort. It is a testament to the ultimate destruction of Europe during WWII, glimpsed through the microcosm of a single individual.

A Sensitively Valuable Elegy
With thanks to the New York Review Books, Peter Handke's A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS is once again available.This slim but pungent volume opens with an elegant introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides ( author of 'Middlesex' and 'The Virgin Suicides' ) and few writers could better place this memoir of Handke's response to his mother's suicide in 1971 in a more meaningful perspective.

Handke writes about his mother in a way that creates a story rather than a history of a life.There is so much understantding of how the world changed from Pre-WW II through the post war emptiness of a desecrated Europe and its accompanying slow move toward healing that plagues burned countries after victories or defeats signalling the end of wars. Handke's mother remains nameless which serves to make her a more universal figure than just another individual.And using the word 'individual' is actually in contrast to the major problem of this tragic women's life.Always a women of poverty, suffering the cruelties that that station in life suggests (a fatherless child, a marriage of convenience that results in a life with an alcoholic husban, self induced abortions, begging for food, the lack of simple luxuries like Christmas gifts, etc) his mother was not a woman who considered herself an individual: she was a daughter of a postwar poverty and gloom, aligning herself with Socialism which further negated her worth as a unique person.Her gradual withdrawal in yet another group (those with 'nervous breakdowns') overtured her ultimate complete withdrawal from the world as she finds taking her own life the final solution to her grief.

Handke reserves his own response to the loss of his mother until the end of this memoir - a section of memories, flashbacks, regrets and tears that force him to place his final godbyes in the form of the written word.The writing is powerful in its simplicity, unfettered by false emotions, straight forward in forcing both the author and the reader into confronting the tragedy of suicide.Perhaps many readers will use this short tome to find healing of like experiences: others will read this book simply because it is a beautifully constructed story of the life on an Everyman/woman.Highly Recommended.

Short,Brutal and Unforgettable
Glad to see this back in print.I've relied on a library copy when I wanted to revisit it.Spend the hour or two it takes to read this and it will stick with you forever.I hope they've touched up the few missteps in Mannheim's translation.Otherwise, this near-perfect memoir puts most of its flabby and narcissistic successors (the list is endless) to shame.

The finest auto/biographical work I know
At once stark and lyrical, Handke's A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS is one of the finest memoirs I've read, and, without a doubt, the strongest portrait I know of a mother by her son--a portrait made strong, in part, by Handke's ability to see and analyze his mother's life within the context of the limited choices available to her, and by his ability to see the ways in which her life is molded by the "genre" of a life comparable to a woman of his mother's class and station.It is, too, at once loving and mercilessly painful.I'm not a great fan of Handke's--the intensity of his self-consciousness, or the cool ironic stances of his early work--but this brief book is an exception.Read it & you will be reading it again throughout your life.

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
In several dozen pages, Peter Handke gives an overview of his mother's life up to and including her suicide in late 1971.

In spare and unsentimental prose, the reader sees a woman (the last of five siblings) grow into a vibrant and vivacious creature in 1930s Germany.An affair with an older married man produces a child; long after he is gone from her life, she fosters the illusion that he was her one true love.(Never mind that their meeting years later is awkward and stilted at best.)

In a subsequent loveless marriage with an alcoholic and abusive man, Handke's mother is slowly destroyed by stifled dreams, societal expectations, and stony resignation.

Handke's insistence on remaining detached is the only problematical aspect of this otherwise elegant memoir.He makes a valiant attempt, but it just doesn't work for this type of book.The reader only comes close to empathizing with his mother; the full embrace is not there.Moreover, the authorial intrusions seem to be too much of a postmodern literary trick and interrupt the flow of the narrative. Every instance that Handke steers the book towards the aspect of the writing process itself is a misstep. (A memoirist who accomplishes this more skillfully is the French writer Annie Ernaux.)

"A Sorrow Beyond Dreams" is a worthwhile read and ultimately a fine tribute, yet the reader yearns for the more detailed version that the author promises with the very last sentence of his book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a book to be considered
this is early work of handke's which, judging by its sales rating, isn't so popular. just why this is - well, it's a mystery to me; this is not merely his best work, but it's the work which has made him one of the great german novelists of the past century. these three short novels (the goalie's anxiety at the penalty kick; short letter, long farewell; a sorrow beyond dreams) capture handke at his experimental best - breaking down language as he breaks down character - while also providing incrediblly piercing psychological insight. though his words weave webs (chunky webs), instead of being lost, the reader begins to appreciate a new sense of language, thereby openning new understanding toward character and psychology. goalie is the most difficult and most rewarding, but all three hold up well to handke's hard-handed word play. these novels also clearly benefit from the discoveries handke had made with his early stage works self accusation and offending the audience. though the book may prove a little difficult to find i recommend it. ... Read more

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Offending the Audience: "A dissection of our expectations about what ought to happen in the theatre."-Observer

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Isolation Examined
This was a fantastic, albeit somewhat depressing, book.I agree with the other reviewers here.But I would add that the book is a moving exploration of man's ultimate and inherent isolation.

Handke's Characteristic Alchemy
The editorial review here is pretty accurate, insofar as summations can ever do justice to a Handke novel, which rely little on plot or human characterization for their power.The novel really takes off when Handke puts his protagonist on the "steppes"--which turn out to be the plains of north-central Spain--and has him explore and experience himself in nature.Readers who liked "My Year in the No-Man's Bay" of "Weight of the World" will like this;here are long passages equally evocative and magical.Undoubtedly there are significances here that literati will find resonant, and perhaps metaphorical parallels that students of European politics will identify, but as an exploration into consciousness, into human interactions with nature and time and memory, this small novel delivers an experience that is very satisfying indeed. ... Read more

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Fantastic
Along with Holderin, Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Nietzsche, Rilke, and Thomas Mann, Peter Handke is one of the greatest writers EVER to write in the German language.I've included Nietszche here because of his awsomecontrol over the language and not because he is a fiction writer.Thathaving been said, Across is, in my opinion, one of Handke's best books,however there are many others that are very close.Handke is obsessed withthe detached observer and this work deals with a man who is fascinated bythreshholds and how he goes through a kind of metaphysical transformationinto one who has crossed the threshold and perhaps graduated to anotherlevel of being.The story is centered around an impartial observer of lifewho suddenly finds himself beating the crap out of a neo nazi and in thissense coming to "participate" in life.Handke's decriptions ofnature and city landscapes are phenomenal in that they evoke with greatcolor and clarity but without any sense of strain caused by forcedmetaphors or clunky words.There is an effortlessnes and beauty to theentire presentation, which in the hands of a less gifted writer would havecome off as heavy and plodding and overdone.

A true masterpiece andwhat seems so strange is that this man is virtually unknown in America orBriatin.Even at Foyles in London the staff didn't know who I was talkingabout.Odd for a person who has been involved with famous directors likeWim Wenders...

One of the truly indispensible novels of the century inthe German language.Stars?Hmmm.How many stars did the roof of theCistene Chapel get? ... Read more

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Optimal Handke
Ostensibly a year's worth of notes from the writer's journal, consisting of personal reflections and diurnal observations of the author's life andenvironment, this book can also be construed as a novel in the form of ajournal, and as such, a work of genuine innovation.Handke's miniaturiststyle lends itself perfectly to these discrete entries, each a completedessay or prose poem;the book is a perfect match of temperament and form,and arguably Handke's finest work to date.Some entries speak to the powerof language--even in translation--to evince startlingly fresh images oftime-worn subjects, e.g., trees in wind;others transform the banalitiesof contemporary experience, e.g., the sound of the television from aneighboring house, suburban detritus, etc., into indelible literary images. These are not rough notes but polished paragraphs in Handke's fineststyle.Though this book is a gift to readers with small amounts of freetime or short attention spans, it has a de facto dramatic structure,central to which is the author's confinement in a hospital and relationshipas a single father to his son.The work is, finally, moving as well aseloquent.

This book made Harold Bloom's Western Canon as one of theachievements of the century;it's one of the few I have read twice. Except for his controversial politics, Handke has tended to be overlookedin this country, but he deserves the attention of everyone who considershim/herself a serious reader.I consider Weight of the World optimalHandke. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In Europe, where it has been seen as pro-Serbian, journalist Peter Handke's meditative essay on ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia has been stirring up a great deal of controversy. But Handke, a German and a longtime resident of Paris, disavows nationalist partisanship. Instead, he works to unravel the tangles of ethnic hatred, snarled over generations and centuries, to discover whether peace is possible in the Balkans, and he reserves his enmity for the European media, which, he maintains, has systematically misunderstood the collapse of the former communist world. This book is impressionistic and short--you can read it over coffee in about an hour--but also deeply thoughtful, and deeply unsettling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A SHORT work,thought provoking and yet.....
Things work out strangely on ones journey through life. Picture me stranded with broken fan belt on the way home from work on my wife's birthday. That morass overcome,and truck in shop, I drove the family car to work on Thanksgiving morning, departing earlier than usual for whatever reason. On a sixty-five mile drive, what do I encounter but a broken down vehicle in the same exact spot I languished in just a few days before. Now only five minutes from my office and well ahead of schedule, I was transporting a brother and sister to a nearby apartment. They were fresh from Kosovo. Speaking little english, we bade each other farewell and they were in my thoughts often in the coming weeks. Christmas shopping for year 2000 led me to a discount bookstore where I found this work as well as a stack of others on the Balkans. I would rate this book more highly were it not for the price (...) It was admitted to by the author in the preface to the American edition:the text apeared on two weekends in the Suddeutsche Zeitung. It is a mere pair of clippings,granted.
On to the merits of the book:Handke states the war was the reason for his journey, and that he was "drawn" to the country (Serbia) of the disintegrating Yugoslavia "least known to me". In my impression, he observes and questions constantly all aspects of the situation. He has experienced, from Germany, through the slant of the media lens what he sees as distortion.Here he tries hard to gain a proper perspective during the short journey he has through the countryside. A worthy read and best read twice, as I am about to do.

Lyrical questions
I know nothing about Serbia beyond what the press commonly reports. This book is the first I have read about that country. It makes no apologies for Serbian atrocities. It does, however, lyrically call journalists and journalism to task.

Written in German in late 1995 for a European audience, this 82-page book applies equally to the U.S.I speak as a former journalist who, during 25 years of largely national U.S. writing, plumbed every side to every question before reaching conclusions--always over-reporting to find nuances, and often reaching conclusions only as I wrote. It was a handicap not easily overcome.

That is not how many, perhaps even most, journalists work. The fault is built into the system. Editors expect reporters to have an angle before they present an idea. Without a hook, assignments are often not made. Editors will deny it, but they expect reporters to have reached some conclusion before they begin reporting, and to report to prove their points. In other words, they routinely ask journalists to put the cart before the horse--an especially troubling phenomenon in this era of political correctness.

Reporters say they are after truth and good. Most are in fact after the big game, the story to make them famous, a kill. Nowadays CNN hires television actors as news anchors. You get the picture. Ironically, on big stories covered by throngs--which I intensely disliked and avoided, and which of course include wars--reporters tend to mimic each other, to sit around after they file, bragging about their prowess. The largest braggarts are also often the least talented.

Institutionalized problems have a depressing effect on journalism. Few stories are black and white. But most present that illusion, although they are products of very little, if any, deductive thought. Certainly, nuances do not surface in short sound bites feeding most news wires. Peter Handke seems to know all this--and a great deal of philosophy.

Serbia aside, this book shows, in near-poetic language, that things are not always as journalists portray them. For that alone, Handke's tiny volume is worth its weight in gold. Alyssa A. Lappen

mike.milakovic@mailexcite.com
I don't know how these last few people have been able to write reviews of this book because I've been trying to get my hands on this book for about a year now and all bookstores online are out of them. If anyone who is reading this can figure out a way I can have a chance to read this book,please email me at the address mentioned above. I'd greatly appreciate it.Thanks All!

A Journey to the Rivers; Justice for Serbia
An excellent book for those who wish to want to have an alternative prespective and source of information with respect to the conflicts in Yugoslavia.

While the editorial reviews were negative, they are alsohypocritical, as it is appears unlikely that either of the two editorialreviewers have any first-hand information, but instead are regurgitatinginformation from the western press (one of the key points which Handkeraises).

finely crafted magic
Once again, Handke tackles a difficult issue with masterful language. Upon its publication, the book received numerous negative responses by many critics who clearly had not read the piece. This carefully constructed booknever "sides" with anyone, instead it attempts to seek outquestions rather than answers. It is a dense difficult piece that is madevery accessible by Scott Abbott's fine translation. I strongly recommend itand urge you to read it with an open mind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Asks the question if a perfect day really exists.
I'v read this book not so long ago and I was stunned. It was like looking at painting being slowly painted in front of you. It's also one of thoserare books you just HAVE to read more yhan once. I think it's one of thefew rare wonderfull books I've read.

The successful day, the most beautyful daydream I ever read.
The successful day...as we will never find him. The question is: could westand it? ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on October 1, 2000. The length of the article is 6794 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Dramaturgical structures supporting a Sprachkritik in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Blut am Hals Der Katze and Peter Handke's Kaspar, are examined in the context of tensions between stage and auditorium.

Citation Details
Title: Dramaturgies of Sprachkirtik: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Blut am Hals der Katze and Peter Handke's Kaspar.
Author: David Barnett
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2000
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 95Issue: 4Page: 1053(1)

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Konzett's study focuses on the new literary strategies with which the Austrian writers Peter Handke, Elfriede Jelinek, and the late Thomas Bernhard engage their readers in critical self-perception. Each articulates a unique model of dissent, combining avant-garde and mainstream techniques of writing that cut across modes of literary discourse and reception. Their writings expose and attack conventions of pre-arranged consensus and harmonization that block the ongoing negotiations necessary for the development of multi-cultural awareness. Bernhard, Handke, and Jelinek question particularly Austria's mono-ethnic and naively accepted national heritage that allows for the unproblematic maintenance of tradition and an apologetic attitude toward the past. Konzett shows that each of the three writers poses the question of national dissent differently. Handke focuses on post-ideological voices that are suppressed in the account of the history of the marginal individual; Bernhard exposes a coercive climate of historical amnesia and national self-canonization; Jelinek confronts the increasing commodification of all cultural identity. All three aim in their rhetoric of national dissent to express alternative, post-national identities for the new multi-cultural Europe. Matthias Konzett is associate professor of German at Yale University. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2005. The length of the article is 467 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Peter Handke. Don Juan (erzahlt von ihm selbst).(Book Review)
Author: Erlis Wickersham
Publication: World Literature Today (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 79Issue: 3-4Page: 95(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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