Walk about the Villages. A Dramatic Poem

Langsame Heimkehr-Tetralogie #4

by Peter Handke, Michael Roloff (Translator)

Peter Handke's dramatic poem Walk about the Villages is the fourth part of Handke's "homecoming cycle," whose other three parts [A Slow Homecoming, The Lesson of St. Victoire, and A Child Story] can be found under the American title A Slow Homecoming.
The underlying story line of Walk about the Villages could not be simpler. The "prodigal" writer Gregor returns to his home village. He and his brother Hans, a construction worker, and his shopkeeper sister have a dispute over the disposition of the house which the parents had built and the land which they had cleared with their own hands many years before.
Within this straightforward conflict, Handke touches upon almost every aspect of our existence. It is a lyrical play, a poetic drama on the order of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood. It is an "Everyman and Everywoman" dramatic poem for our time.

Genres: German Literature

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Peter Handke (* 6. Dezember 1942 in Griffen, Kärnten) ist ein österreichischer Schriftsteller und Übersetzer.

Peter Handke is an Avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright. His body of work has been awarded numerous literary prizes, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2019. He has also collaborated with German director Wim Wenders, writing the script for The Wrong Move and co-writing the screenplay for Wings of Desire.

Reviews

[Philippe Malzieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read Shakespeare's theatre like it was a novel. It is the same for the majority of the classics. Contemporary theatre is other thing. Beckett or Ionesco for exemple, their texts are made to be seen, not to be read. There are exceptions and particularly Handke.

Walk about the villages is conceived like a Greek tragedy. There is a chorus (three worker). The characters are coming from a modest background. Handke calls on humble, generally forgotten by theatre. Two brothers oppose. Gregor wants to return to the village in the familial house. Hans does not want because their sister lives there. The confrontation is inevitable.

The part is finished by the sublime long monologue of Nova. Undoubtedly, it is one of most beautiful poëme ever written. It is an hymn to the life, the meeting, the travel and the alterity. Extrait :

"Also, listen to my dramatic poem. More not to slide in the course of your dreams, it is good; but do not wake up some the others by barking like dogs. You are not barbarians, and none of you are guilty. In your crises of despair you perhaps noted that you are not at all desperate. Despaired, you would have died. You cannot give up. Thus do not play the inopportune recluses, because if you continue to have inclination for yourselves, you do not see in the abandonment where you are the gleam of the gods.
......
See dancing the pulsations of the sun and trust in your heart which boils. The shaking of your eyelids is the shaking of the truth. Let spread the colors. Follow this poême dramatic. Go eternally to the meeting. Walk about the villages.

My translation is poor but I hope you appreciate this text. Handke is really one of the greatest.

[Giovanni Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sublime.

[Elisa So Phie !]

werde das immer und immer wieder lesen.

[Melchor · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Id eternamente al encuentro"

[Charlie Pilou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je me suis arrêtée avant la fin, la poésie du texte est absolument magnifique mais je pense que, plus encore que d'autres, c'est une pièce qui s'entend, et qui se lit très difficilement (encore plus quand on est fatigué)

[Klaus Mattes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man hätte das schlicht auch „Prosa“ nennen können. Aber Wim Wenders hat es damals für die Salzburger Festspiele erstinszeniert, also wurde es zum Schauspiel ernannt.

Unterstellen wir mal, es habe sich so ähnlich tatsächlich ereignet und zwar im Leben des Autors Handke. Dann wäre es darum gegangen, dass Handke nach dem Tod der Eltern ein Haus in Kärnten geerbt hat und sich mit seinen Geschwistern, sogenannten „einfachen Menschen“, Bruder Zimmermann, Schwester Verkäuferin, irgendwie einigen musste, wie dieses Erbe aufzuteilen ist.

Zu Besorgungen geschickt, nahm er uns zwei Geschwister mit, setzte sich dann irgendwo an einen Wegrand und las und las, und wir andern, die wir ja allein noch nicht heimwußten, standen um ihn herum und schluchzten, jammerten und brüllten, ohne daß der sich auch nur einmal davon bei seinem Gelese stören ließ.

Bisweilen staunt man hier am Rande, was der feinsinnige Romantiker Handke an Insiderwissen aus dem praktischen, banalen Leben alles auf Lager hat. Obwohl, bei „Wunschloses Unglück“, dem Buch nach dem Suizid seiner kranken Mutter, war das auch schon so. Aber je mehr das hier sich hinzieht, desto mehr beharrt er drauf, ein gut bezahlter Fest- und Weihespielautor zu sein. Dann versammeln Bauarbeiter sich zu Männerchören und raunen und reimen munter drauflos und der Peinlichkeitshammer befindet sich im roten Bereich.