On October 10, two writers were announced
as the winners of the Nobel Prize for literature: Austrian novelist and
playwright Peter Handke and Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. Handke received the
Prize for 2019. Tokarczuk received the Prize for 2018.
Peter Handke was born in 1942 in Griffen,
Austria. His mother was part of the Slovenian minority and his father was a
German soldier who he would only meet as an adult. Handke's work includes novels, essays, screenplays, notebooks,.... The Academy
characterizes his work as possessing “a strong adventurous spirit” and a
“nostalgic inclination” — especially in the drama, Walk About the Villages, and
the novel, Repetition.
On December 7, 5:00 p.m., Odegaard Library, Room 220, we'll discuss two texts by Handke:
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (first
published in 1972 as Wunschloses
Unglück) arose as a tribute to Handke’s mother, who had committed
suicide the previous year at the age of 51.
Repetition (first published in 1985
as Die Wiederholung) is a short novel
recounting the discovery by Handke’s young alter ego of a miraculous land far
away – but in fact just miles away, over the border from his native Austria – a
land that appears to be untrammeled by historical guilt, where everything still
waits to be discovered, named and remembered.
Repetition was translated by Ralph Manheim, one of the most praised translators of
the German and French literature . Manheim translated work of Gunter Grass,
Herman Hesse, Bertold Brecht, Peter Handke, etc.
Also, do not forget to Save the Dates for these upcoming events in 2020 (all on Saturdays at 5pm in UW Odegaard Library room 220):
January 14: Olga Tokarczuk, Primeval and Other Stories
February 8: Author and book to be announced.
March 7: Lojze Kovačič, Newcomers, Book Two, with translator Michael Biggins
April 4: TBA
May 2: Olga Tokarczuk, Flights (to be followed by a May 3 or 4 public presentation at UW by translator Jennifer Croft)
And more…
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