From the Bookshelf of Exceptional Books…

The Piano Teacher

Elfriede Jelinek,

Joachim Neugroschel (Translator)

Discussion: General

Why we're reading this: Brilliant psychological study of a single woman living at home in a repressive society. Very dark - very …more
[close] Brilliant psychological study of a single woman living at home in a repressive society. Very dark - very very good writing...exceptional!

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 24 topics — 1,319 comments total

General

Welcome! Introduce yourself
By Colleen · 614 posts · 1224 views

last updated Aug 11, 2025 03:30PM

ARC Readers Wanted for Dark Romantic Fantasy
By Kathryn · 1 post · 10 views

last updated Sep 28, 2023 06:38PM

What Members Thought

Dec 02, 2013 Traveller rated it really liked it

Shelves: three-and-a-half-stars, dark, 1001-books, translated, vale-of-tears

Are our children ever our property? Is it ever justifiable for one human being to take possession of another human's will and freedom; is it okay to retain another human being for our own personal use, like you would do with a motor vehicle or a cup or a comb? Even when that human being belongs to another nation, or is our own child?

There is currently a world-wide ban against making slaves of persons belonging to other nationalities, though there is not yet consensus about making 'slaves' of ot ...more

164 likes · Like · see review

Dec 07, 2010 Kamakana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aaa-favoritefiction, translation, aa-womanauthor, aa-europelit, zz1983, aa-austrialit, all-five-star, xxxeslit, aaa-top-translation, aaa-favwomenfiction

if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

060111 later addition: so now i have read on her work, have read another 3 of her novels, and there is the horrifying possibility that i have just completely misinterpreted her work! her characterization of the piano teacher is avowedly autobiographical, erika's masochism is indictment of patriarchal power structures, erika is not attempting to manipulate the destructive forces that surround her, erika is not escaping through ar if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

060111 later addition: so now i have read on her work, have read another 3 of her novels, and there is the horrifying possibility that i have just completely misinterpreted her work! her characterization of the piano teacher is avowedly autobiographical, erika's masochism is indictment of patriarchal power structures, erika is not attempting to manipulate the destructive forces that surround her, erika is not escaping through art- this is perhaps only ironic that schubert is her favorite- have i misread completely? well, in the interests of paying attention to the tale, not the teller, i continue to believe i have found a twisted tragedy of a failed love story. i guess i want to care for erika, want to believe she is not destroyed before the story even begins, but then i am not an austrian, i am a man, i do not want to imagine i am just witnessing her further degradation without escape potential. i want to believe she is using psychic jujitsu, in claiming her own control over the only possible actions toward herself that she imagines- the torture that will be proof of love- for if it not so, i am just watching unrelenting torture. pain without purpose. pain without redemption. i suppose that now i need to see the film, need to read the book again...

101210 first review: intense. i will get back later... well i am back: i thought and thought but could not figure out how to write this review without revealing all. i read this at a brisk pace, easily sweeping through part 1, pausing one day, reading all of part 2 in one more sitting. i do not want to get pretentious, get serious, get theory-thick. but this book seems to be asking for serious, pretentiously sincere and theory-laden reading...

i understand there is an entire range of political readings provoked from this study of sadomasochism, but what holds my interest, continues my thoughts, is the personal, internalized, sexual politics. the piano teacher does harm herself, sexualizing this in a desperate way, it seems because she does not know her body, her possibilities, her pleasure, because she sleeps with her mother. psychological separation from her mother becomes impossible when she is not even allowed to know herself separate...

this is easy to read, in one way, in story, hard to read another way, in politics, desire, implicit incarceration of her entire damaged psyche. i even come to understand her act of extreme violence, delayed violence, secret violence, when she crushes that glass and puts the shards in the flautist girl's coat. this is a good indication of how completely immersed i become in her way of thinking...

this reminds me of reading that the truly dominant partner in s&m acts is the apparent victim. erika seeks to dominate and choreograph her own torture, guide her fantasy, plan her pain, but mistakenly believes this cannot fail to be an expression of true love, to which she would willingly surrender. she wants to be the loved victim, but actually the dominant player. but sex is not always only an expression of love. klemmer imagines something more conventionally respecting what he thinks is love: it is apparent in the prose that ventures inside each others minds, that he thinks of her as yet another tool reinforcing his healthy then excessive ego, he does not love her. is this anything more than what society, capitalism, presents as correct in male/female idealized romance...

his desire is to be worshipped, to be in control, and it throws him when she even writes down her masochistic desires, it is revealing she thinks of herself as being in an equal love. all he has to do is love her, and he can do anything to her. he does not love her. he refuses to be her sex toy. he refuses because of pride, then later does sadistically hurt her- but only according to his plan. he refuses to meet her on anything like a shared level of respect, no more than her mother does, but in his hysteria he reveals in a way his much deeper repression than hers, as he later walks the forest in a fury of condemnation, rather as she had earlier in furtive fascination, in peeping on the acts she had previously paid for...

sex infuses this text, perhaps this is why i was swept along, for the entire first half is like prolonged foreplay. play. yes sex is the one arena of play allowed for adults. the play unfortunately becomes too bound up with power, with desire, with the world outside the acts of s&m. this is a tragedy. play mutates to real acts. love is met by power play. i do not know if i am misinterpreting the text, but the way it is radically feminist seems to me in the fact of her bravely owning her desires, when they conflict her nurtured repression, even more when they contradict usual, hetero-normative behavior: and for her expression, her trust, her love, she is viciously rejected, battered, mocked, and abandoned. cruel ending. this also makes me think of the movie 'secretary' which is a romantic comedy of a different sort, reveling in a happy s&m relationship, where this is a sort of tragedy. this is what mundane fiction can do that sf rarely does: hyper-close examination of character. this is a strange novel to call it a five star... ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2013 Traveller rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dark, translated, three-and-a-half-stars, 1001-books, vale-of-tears

Three and a half stars

One of the questions that arose for me while reading this novel, was: Are our children ever our property? Is it ever justifiable for one human being to take possession of another human's will and freedom? Is it okay to retain another human being for our own personal use, like you would do with a motor vehicle or a cup or a comb? Even when that human being is our own child?

There is currently a world-wide ban against making slaves of persons belonging to other nationalities ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2019 Mounir rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ذكرتني هذه الرواية برواية "السراب" لنجيب محفوظ االتي سرد فيها ما يمكن تسميته "دراسة حالة" لشاب متعلق بوالدته بطريقة مرضية تسببت في إصابته بتشوهات نفسية وجنسية. في "عازفة البيانو" أيضا ما يمكن أن نسميه دراسة حالة لسيدة ليست شابة واقعة تحت تعلق والدتها المرضي بها، والذي تسبب أيضا في تشوهات نفسية وجنسية جسيمة للإبنة. نجد هنا النمط المعتاد من علاقات السيطرة/الخضوع حيث الطرف المسيطر "يحتاج" للطرف الخاضع لكي يمارس عليه سيطرته، والطرف الخاضع رغم محاولاته من حين لآخر للتملص من السيطرة فإنه يعود دائما لد ذكرتني هذه الرواية برواية "السراب" لنجيب محفوظ االتي سرد فيها ما يمكن تسميته "دراسة حالة" لشاب متعلق بوالدته بطريقة مرضية تسببت في إصابته بتشوهات نفسية وجنسية. في "عازفة البيانو" أيضا ما يمكن أن نسميه دراسة حالة لسيدة ليست شابة واقعة تحت تعلق والدتها المرضي بها، والذي تسبب أيضا في تشوهات نفسية وجنسية جسيمة للإبنة. نجد هنا النمط المعتاد من علاقات السيطرة/الخضوع حيث الطرف المسيطر "يحتاج" للطرف الخاضع لكي يمارس عليه سيطرته، والطرف الخاضع رغم محاولاته من حين لآخر للتملص من السيطرة فإنه يعود دائما لدور التابع الخاضع المطمئن تحت جناح الطرف المسيطر. وينعكس هذا النمط من العلاقات على التخيلات الجنسية للبطلة، فكل ما تعلمته من العلاقات الانسانية يختزل في علاقة سيد وعبد، وبالتالي يتحول الجنس (والحب) لديها إلى نفس النمط والذي يظهر في صورة ثنائي السادية/المازوخية.
إلى جانب موضوع العلاقة المرضية بين البطلة وأمها، والعلاقة المضطربة التي تحاول إقامتها مع شاب من تلاميذها، هناك الكثير من السخرية من العادات البرجوازية لأهل فيينا، وبعض المناقشات حول الموسيقى والفن وكيفية استقبال الجمهور له، وبعض الأحاديث حول المؤلفات الموسيقية لفرانتس شوبرت بالذات.
أسلوب الكتابة صعب إلى حد ما، حيث تتلاعب المؤلفة كثيرا باللغة، كما أنها تضمن السرد الكثير من الإشارات والإيحاءات البعيدة ظاهريا عن الموضوع والتي تتصف أحيانا بطابع محلي لا يعرفه إلا سكان فيينا، حتى أن المؤلفة عبرت مرة عن دهشتها من أن رواياتها يمكن أن تترجم إلى لغات أخرى.
هناك الكثير من المشاهد العنيفة بما في ذلك المشاهد الجنسية التي تطيل المؤلفة في وصفها بطريقة مزعجة.
رواية متعبة ومزعجة وباعثة على الكآبة ...more

4 likes · Like · see review