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

[Cyrille Honoré]

Et c’est donc à ce monsieur qu’on a donné un Nobel? Il a du style dirons certains. Ouais, ok, il empile les virgules, comme ça, pour le plaisir, pour empiler les jolies mots, les jolies expressions. Mais le tout, sous couvert d’être de la poésie, est illisible. J’ai rien compris. Y’a pas d’histoire, juste une branlette de l’auteur. Seul avantage : c’est court, la souffrance est courte. Désavantage : on cherche jusqu’à la dernière page un truc à se raccrocher mais rien n’arrive pour sauver le livre.

[Amandine]

Assez intéressant et énigmatique: il garde ses secrets malgré ma lecture. On suit le voyage des personnages qui se sont liés l'un à l'autre sans que j'aie vraiment compris comment: ils parlent très peu et ne se répondent jamais directement les uns aux autres. L'impression initiale de poésie m'est restée, bien que moins forte que je ne l'espérais.