Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience." Handke is considered to be one of the most influential and original German-language writers in the second half of the 20th century. In the late 1960s, he earned his reputation as a member of the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

with such plays as ''

Offending the Audience ''Offending the Audience'' is a play by Austrian writer Peter Handke. It is sometimes called an ''anti-play'' because of its renouncements of theatricality. It was originally published in German under the title ''Publikumsbeschimpfung'' (which bet ...

'' (1966) in which actors analyze the nature of theatre and alternately insult the audience and praise its "performance", and ''

Kaspar Kaspar is a given name and surname which may refer to: Given name: * Kaspar, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (1459 – c. 1527) * Kaspar Albrecht (1889–1970), Austrian architect and sculptor * Kaspar Amort (1612–1675), German painter * C ...

'' (1967). His novels, mostly ultra objective,

deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of Comedy, comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant t ...

accounts of characters in extreme states of mind, include '' The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick'' (1970) and '' The Left-Handed Woman'' (1976). Prompted by his mother's suicide in 1971, he reflected her life in the novella '' A Sorrow Beyond Dreams'' (1972). A dominant theme of his works is the deadening effects and underlying irrationality of ordinary language, everyday reality, and rational order. Handke was a member of the '' Grazer Gruppe'' (an association of authors) and the Grazer Autorenversammlung, and co-founded the Verlag der Autoren publishing house in Frankfurt. He collaborated with director

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

, and wrote such screenplays as ''

The Wrong Move ''The Wrong Move'' ( – "False Movement") is a 1975 German road movie directed by Wim Wenders. This was the second part of Wenders' "Road Movie trilogy, ''Road Movie'' trilogy" which included ''Alice in the Cities'' (1974) and ''Kings of the Roa ...

'' and ''

Wings of Desire ''Wings of Desire'' (, ; ) is a 1987 romantic fantasy film written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and directed by Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its hu ...

''. In 1973, he won the Georg Büchner Prize, the most important literary prize for German-language literature. In 1999, as a protest against the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Serbia and Montenegro, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombing ...

, Handke returned the prize money to the German Academy for Language and Literature. Handke has drawn significant controversy for his public support of Serbian nationalism in the wake of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

Life

Early life and family

Handke was born in Griffen, then in the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

's Reichsgau Carinthia. His father, Erich Schönemann, was a bank clerk and German soldier whom Handke did not meet until adulthood. His mother Maria, a Carinthian Slovene, married Bruno Handke, a tram conductor and

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

soldier from Berlin, before Peter was born. The family lived in the Soviet-occupied

Pankow Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...

district of Berlin from 1944 to 1948, where Maria Handke had two more children: Peter's half-sister and half-brother. Then the family moved to his mother's home town of Griffen. Peter experienced his stepfather as more and more violent due to

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. In 1954, Handke was sent to the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

''Marianum'' boys'

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

at Tanzenberg Castle in Sankt Veit an der Glan. There, he published his first writing in the school newspaper, ''Fackel''. In 1959, he moved to Klagenfurt, where he went to high school, and commenced law studies at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

in 1961. Handke's mother took her own life in 1971, reflected in his novel '' Wunschloses Unglück'' (''A Sorrow Beyond Dreams''). After leaving Graz, Handke lived in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Berlin, Kronberg, Paris, the U.S. (1978–1979) and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

(1979–1988). Since 1990, he has resided in Chaville near Paris. He is the subject of the documentary film '' Peter Handke: In the Woods, Might Be Late'' (2016), directed by Corinna Belz. Sebastian Hammelehle wrote that Handke's view of the

, which has provoked numerous controversies, was probably romanticized, but that it represented the view of a writer, not a war reporter. The American translator Scott Abbott, who travelled with Handke through

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

after which numerous essays were published, stated that Handke considered Yugoslavia as the "incredible, rich

multicultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...

state that lacked the kind of nationalisms that he saw in Germany and Austria". Abbott added that Handke viewed the disintegration of country as the disappearance of

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

. Reviewing '' The Moravian Night'', Joshua Cohen stated that Handke's Yugoslavia was not a country, but a symbol of himself, a symbol of literature or the "European Novel". Volker Hage wrote that ''The Moravian Night'' is "extremely cosmopolitan" and connected to the present, while also that the book represents the autobiographical summary of Handke's life as a writer. Tanjil Rashid noted that "Handke’s novels, plays and memoirs demonstrate the evil of banality". After his play ''Voyage by Dugout'' was staged in 1999, Handke was condemned by other writers:

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

proclaimed Handke to be "finished" in New York.

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

declared him as a candidate for "International Moron of the Year" due to his "idiocies", while

Alain Finkielkraut Alain Luc Finkielkraut (; ; born 30 June 1949) is a French essayist, radio producer, and public intellectual. Since 1986, he has been the host of ''Répliques'', a talk show broadcast weekly on France Culture. He was elected a Fellow of the Ac ...

said that he was an "ideological monster", and

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, Global Distin ...

stated that his "glorification of the Serbs is cynicism". When Handke was awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2014, the Norwegian author

Øyvind Berg Øyvind Berg (born March 10, 1971, in Løken) is a Norway, Norwegian former ski jumping, ski jumper who competed from 1983 to 1996. He won a gold medal in the team large hill at the 1993 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and finished 22n ...

called for the jury to resign.Krever at juryen går av
''Klassekampen'' However, disputing such interpretations of his work as listed above as misinterpreted by the English press, Handke has described the Srebrenica massacre as an "infernal vengeance, eternal shame for the Bosnian Serbs responsible." This concern about the imprecision and political nature of language, carries through Handke's view. In a 2006 interview, Handke commented on concerns about the stereotyped language of the media that "knew everything", endlessly recycling words like "the butcher of Belgrade". Handke’s literary fame was overshadowed in 2006 by his politics. The writer’s public support of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

, the former president of Yugoslavia who died that year while on trial for genocide and war crimes, caused controversy after Handke spoke at his funeral. Because of this the administrator of the theatre Comédie-Française, Marcel Bozonnet, removed Handke's play "Voyage au pays sonore ou L'art de la question" from the forthcoming 2007 schedule. This event once again drew both supportive and critical voices. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the French minister of culture, implicitly criticized Bozonnet's action in a letter addressed to him, and by deciding to invite Handke to the ministry. A petition against the censorship of his work was signed by

Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица, ; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, film producer and musician. Kusturica has been an active filmmaker since the 1980s. He has competed at the Cannes ...

, Patrick Modiano (winner of the

Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...

in 2014), Paul Nizon, Bulle Ogier, Luc Bondy and Handke’s compatriot Elfriede Jelinek (winner of the

in 2004). Handke was subsequently selected to receive that year’s

Heinrich Heine Prize Heinrich Heine Prize refers to three different awards named in honour of the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine, Christian Johann Heinrich Heine: * ''Heinrich Heine prize of Düsseldorf'' * ''Heinrich Heine prize of the Ministry for Culture'' ...

, though he refused it before it was to be revoked from him. In 2013, Tomislav Nikolić, as the President of Serbia, expressed gratitude saying that some people still remember those who suffered for Christianity, implying that Handke was a victim of scorn for his views, to which Handke replied with an explanation, "I was not anyone's victim, the Serbian people is victim." This was said during the ceremony at which Handke received the ''Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Serbia''. In 2019, The Intercept published a number of articles by

Peter Maass Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author. Life and career Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''Th ...

criticizing Peter Handke's

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

reception. In another article by Intercept, Maass went to great lengths accusing Handke of being an "exponent of white nationalism". Subsequently in an interview conducted by Maass in December 2019, asking Handke whether the 1995

Srebrenica massacre The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. It was mainly perpetrated by unit ...

had happened, Handke responded: “I prefer waste paper, an anonymous letter with waste paper inside, to your empty and ignorant questions.” Maass also claims that two Nobel prize jurors were adhering to "conspiracy theories" with regard to American involvement in the Yugoslav conflicts, and that the jurors were "misinformed" about Handke's literary achievements. Peter Handke received countless mails that included threats, or unsanitary content. Germany's Eugen Ruge also protested against the scale of the criticism. In November, around 120 authors, literary scholars, translators and artists expressed their unease in an open letter. They felt that the criticism against Handke was no longer rational. In February 2020, Handke was decorated with the

Order of Karađorđe's Star Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

for "special merits in representing Serbia and its citizens" as he "wholeheartedly defended the Serbian truth". The current President of Serbia

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...

presented recipients on the occasion of the Serbian Statehood Day.

Reactions to the Nobel Prize

Awards

* 1973: Georg Büchner Prize * 1987: Vilenica International Literary Prize * 2000: * 2002: America Award * 2002: Honorary Doctor, University of Klagenfurt * 2003: Honorary Doctor,

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...

*2008:

Thomas-Mann-Preis Thomas Mann Prize (''German'': Thomas-Mann-Preis) is a literary prize of Germany. In full the title is "Thomas Mann Prize of the city of Lübeck and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts". It is given in alternate years in Lübeck and in Munich. The ...

*2009:

Franz Kafka Prize The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary award presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the Jewish, Bohemian, German-language novelist. The prize was first awarded in 2001 and is co-sponsored by the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prag ...

* 2012: Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis * 2014: International Ibsen Award * 2018: Nestroy Theatre Prize for Lifetime Achievement * 2019:

* 2020:

* 2021:

Order of the Republika Srpska The Order of the Republika Srpska () is the Republika Srpska's highest award. It can be awarded to any head of state, "exceptional person", or institution in recognition of "excellent work strengthening the national consciousness egardingthe ...

* 2024: Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria

Works

Handke has written novels, plays, screenplays, essays and poems, often published by Suhrkamp. Many works were translated into English. His works are held by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

, including:

Prose fiction

* 1966 ' (''The Hornets''), novel * 1970 '' Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter'' (''The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick''), novel and screenplay of the film ''

The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty ''The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty'' () is a 1972 German-language detective film, directed by Wim Wenders. It is also known as ''The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick''. It was adapted from the novel with The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalt ...

'' (1972) * 1972 '' Der kurze Brief zum langen Abschied'' (''Short Letter, Long Farewell''), novel * 1972 '' Wunschloses Unglück'' (''A Sorrow Beyond Dreams: A Life Story''), memoir * 1975 '' Die Stunde der wahren Empfindung'' (''A Moment of True Feeling''), novel * 1976 ''Die linkshändige Frau'' (''The Left-Handed Woman'') * 1979 '' Langsame Heimkehr'' (''Slow Homecoming''), start of a tetralogy of stories, including ''Die Lehre der Sainte-Victoire'' (1980), ''Über die Dörfer'' and ' (1981) * 1983 ' (''Across''), story * 1986 '' Die Wiederholung'' (''Repetition''), novel * 1994 '' Mein Jahr in der Niemandsbucht. Ein Märchen aus den neuen Zeiten'' (''My Year in the No-Man's-Bay''), novel * 1997 ''In einer dunklen Nacht ging ich aus meinem stillen Haus'' (''On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House'') * 2002 '' Der Bildverlust oder Durch die Sierra de Gredos'' (''Crossing the Sierra de Gredos''), novel * 2004 ''Don Juan (erzählt von ihm selbst)'' (''Don Juan: His Own Version'') * 2008 '' Die morawische Nacht'' (''The Moravian Night''), novel * 2009 ''Bis dass der Tag euch scheidet oder Eine Frage des Lichts: ein Monolog'' (''Till Day You Do Part or A Question of Light'') * 2011 ''Der Große Fall'' (''The Great Fall'') * 2017 ''Die Obstdiebin oder Einfache Fahrt ins Landesinnere'' (''The Fruit Thief or One-Way Journey into the Interior'') * 2020 ''Das zweite Schwert'' (''The Second Sword'') * 2021 ''Mein Tag im anderen Land'' (''My Day in the Other Land'') * 2023 '' Die Ballade des letzten Gastes''

Plays

* 1966 '' Publikumsbeschimpfung und andere Sprechstücke'' (''Offending the Audience and Other Spoken Plays''), play, English version as ''Offending the Audience and Self-accusation'' * 1967 ''

'', play, English version also as ''Kaspar and Other Plays'' * 1973 ', play * 1990 '' Das Wintermärchen'', William Shakespeare, German translation by Peter Handke. Première Schaubühne Berlin (1990) * 1992 '' Die Stunde, da wir nichts voneinander wußten'' (''The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other''), play * 2010 '' Immer noch Sturm'' (''Storm Still''), a play about the Slovenian uprising against Hitler in 1945, ; first performance:

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

2011 * 2018 ''Peter Handke Bibliothek''. I. Prose, Poetry, Plays (Vol. 1–9), ; II. Essays (Vol. 10–11), ; III Diaries (Vol. 13–14), * 2021

Films

* 1971 ''Chronik der laufenden Ereignisse'' (''Chronicle of Current Events'') * 1977 '' Die linkshändige Frau'' (''The Left-Handed Woman''), after his 1976 novel * 1985 ''Das Mal des Todes'' (''The Malady of Death''), after

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

' 1982 novella * 1992 ''L'Absence'' (''The Absence'')

Screenplays

* 1969 ''3 amerikanische LP's'' (''3 American LPs''), film by Wim Wenders * 1972 ''Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter'' (''The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick''), film by Wim Wenders * 1975 ''Falsche Bewegung'' (''Wrong Move''), film by Wim Wenders * 1987 ''Der Himmel über Berlin'' (''Wings of Desire''), film by

References

External links

Peter Handke (geb. 1942) / Schriftsteller
Literaturarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
Peter Handke / Schriftsteller, Dramatiker, Romancier, Lyriker, Essayist, Übersetzer, Drehbuchautor, Regisseur, Zeichner, Nobelpreisträger / Geboren: 1942, Griffen
Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

Library of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

List of works

(poem) Wim Wenders * * Karl-Erik Tallmo

''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'', 23 September 1988 *
Sound recordings with Peter Handke
in the Online Archive of the Österreichische Mediathek (Literary readings, interviews and radio reports) {{DEFAULTSORT:Handke, Peter 1942 births Living people People from Völkermarkt District 20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights Austrian male dramatists and playwrights People of Carinthian Slovene descent Austrian people of Slovenian descent Austrian people of German descent Yugoslav people of German descent Eastern Orthodox Christians from Austria Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church Anton Wildgans Prize winners Schiller Memorial Prize winners Georg Büchner Prize winners 20th-century Austrian novelists 21st-century Austrian novelists German-language poets Austrian male poets 20th-century Austrian poets 20th-century Austrian male writers 21st-century Austrian male writers Nobel laureates in Literature Austrian Nobel laureates Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria Eastern Orthodox writers Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska Deniers of the Bosnian genocide Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts