Absence: A Novel

by Peter Handke, Ralph Manheim (Translator)

A “challenging and rewarding novel”* from Nobel Prize-winning author Peter Handke.

The time is an unspecified modernity, the place possibly Europe. Absence follows four nameless people -- the old man, the woman, the soldier, and the gambler -- as they journey to a desolate wasteland beyond the limits of an unnamed city.

“In this smoothly written fable, Handke forcefully summons readers to the recognition that the essence of human life lies in the striving for self-expression even though its perfect realization must always remain elusive.”―* Publishers Weekly

"A remarkably abstract book even for the very abstract Handke... Slippery but engrossing work, silkily translated." - Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Philosophy, Nobel Prize, Literary Fiction, 20th Century, German Literature

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

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

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece]

[...]Αυτός που ξέρει ποια είναι η κατάληλη στιγμή γα όλα - η κατάλληλη στιγμή για να επέμβει, η κατάλληλη στιγμή για αντιπερισπασμούς, η κατάλληλη στιγμή για την πρέπουσα λέξη' και, που, μ' αυτό τον τρόπο, ακόμα κι αν δεν είναι ο αρχηγός γίνεται εκείνος που παίρνει τις αποφάσεις, εκείνος που επιβάλλεται.

- Γιατί δεν πρόκειται για κάτι που σου είναι έμφυτο αλλά που εσύ το χρησιμοποιείς εναντίον μας, εναντίον των άλλων, εναντίον του κόσμου σαν όπλο σου! Η απουσία σου με τρομάζει.
[...]