Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian playwright and novelist, best known for her novel, The Piano Teacher.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clich茅s and their subjugating power."
This is Jelinek, and she doesn't do wonderful, wonderful times. The times here are anything but wonderful. The war may have ended more than a decade ago, but Nazism still lurks; evil behaviour is ever present on the streets and behind the closed doors of Vienna, in what I found to be the most chilling, violent, misanthropic, nihilistic and perverse of her novels. The best too though, by a mile. Jelinek like a kick in guts that makes you want to vomit captures the dark side of Austrian society where a misogynistic cranky and crippled former SS-officer beats his wife and takes pornographic photos of her that he hides under his pistol, while their teenage children, Rainer; who gets a right hiding now and again too, and Anna; who is arguably worst than her brother - humiliating a boy through sex in a school bathroom, take out their frustrations on the general public with brutal attacks and wallet pinching. Without reason. Without feelings. Turning this into a violent foursome are the slightly older Hans; whose father died in a concentration camp, and the spoiled rich brat Sophie; who Rainer thinks is his girlfriend. What makes it even worse is that these youngers aren't dunces; they are intelligent, and absolutely have promising futures ahead of them. There is nothing nice about this novel at all. It's level of unpleasantness is off the chart. But then, there isn't meant to be anything pleasant about. The degraded characters are a product of the Austrian post-war era, where racial, xenophobic, and cruel violence never upped and left. Even the victims of the crimes come off as perpetrators too - including a guy on a tram who gropes one of the girls and encourages her to play with his prick through his trousers. The arrogant Rainer, who is obsessed with the likes of Camus and Sartre and sees himself as a great intellectual who is superior to everybody else, shocked, but didn't really surprise me, with a final blood-splattered act - and that's putting it lightly - that I won't ever be forgetting. For me, her most lyrically poetic novel - even in translation the use of language was so impressive - that both highlights the effect on the minds of youngsters that have abusive pushy over-bearing parents, and how fascist ideology was very much alive kicking in post-war Europe. Not for the faint of heart. Some may find some of it grimly funny, but not me. The kind of book that makes you want to scrub yourself down in the shower afterwards.
There are moments when one can't help being ashamed of one's country. Usually when there's any national outbreak of racism or even an individual case which makes the news. Like the Windrush scandal for example. Racism for me is the polar opposite of Shakespeare or Virginia Woolf. So I can imagine growing up as an Austrian after the second world war didn't offer too many opportunities for national pride. This is a pained book blistering with disgust and anger.
Wonderful Wonderful Times begins with a gratuitous attack in a park by four adolescents on a victim chosen at random. Rainer and Anna are twins; Sophie is from a wealthy party, Hans is from a poor family. Both boys are in love with Sophie; both girls are in love with Hans. The sexual tensions were the best feature of the novel - love can make fascists of us all when faced with competition. Much better than the violence which seemed forcefully imposed by the author rather than arising from within the characters themselves. Violence we know is sometimes how the dispossessed make themselves felt. But these were characters dispossessing, not dispossessed. The crippled father of Rainer and Anna, an unrepentant SS thug, is cartoonish in his despicableness. But little space is given to developing his relationship with his children. Instead his leitmotif in the novel is to take pornographic photographs of his wife, as if we need constantly reminding how unsavoury he is.
To be honest I never quite understood what Jelinek was getting at. What all her nihilistic anger, her distaste for her own characters added up to apart perhaps from some kind of personal catharsis. On the jacket we're told it shows how the present is corrupted by the crimes of the past. But that's simply a vacuous clich茅 that can be used to explain any act of violence. I watched a documentary once about the sons and daughters of Nazi war criminals. The sad driving force in all these individuals was to become the polar opposite of their fathers. The psychology of disowning the father's sins by embracing opposites was dramatized by Koeppen very well in his Death in Rome, another novel that examines the legacy of Nazism. The psychology of this novel rarely rang true for me.
No question Elfriede Jelinek is a very good writer but she's an angry writer, like Ali Smith but without Smith's belief in fairies and earth magic. For me Ali Smith alchemises into art her anger better than Jelinek managed here. At times it also reminded me of Martin Amis but without his exuberant satire. On the good side it reminded me how much I loved Book One of Robert Musil's Man Without Qualities which influenced it. Overall though, too rampantly nihilistic for me.
Daca ai 16 ani: citesti acest roman, iti notezi instructiunile de fabricare a unei grenade artizanale (a la Tyler Durden), asculti "Puritania" si gata - esti pregatit sa faci fata vietii. Daca ai mai mult de 16 ani: citesti acest roman si scrii o recenzie, dupa cum urmeaza: Elfriede Jelinek este o autoare de succes cu multe premii printre care, in 2004, Premiul Nobel pentru Literatura. A publicat nenumarate romane precum "Amantele", "Copiii mortilor" si "Pianista" - care a fost si ecranizat in 2001 obtinand Marele Premiu al Festivalului de la Cannes.
"Die Ausgesperrten" este bazat pe un caz real din Viena anilor '50 si infatiseaza povestea a patru tineri care formeaza o banda, cu scopul de a jefui si agresa cu multa ura si violenta persoane nevinovate intr-un parc. Liderul lor este Rainer Witkowski, urmat de sora lui geamana si de Sophie, o copila de bani gata si de Hans, un electrician muncitor cu dorinte de parvenire. Toti patru sunt foarte diferiti si cartea prezinta gandurile si sentimentele lor in mod nemijlocit, foarte viu si cu mare impact asupra cititorului. Cartea are un aer de teribilism, de revolta si rebeliune a tinerilor impotriva societatii, adanc marcate de razboi, impotriva educatiei, adultilor si a conventionalismului. In discutiile lor cei patru ridica subiecte erudite si isi lanseaza parerile pertinente, originale si ironice asupra unor subiecte ca: crestinismul, comunismul, dragostea, sexul, libertatea, literatura, munca etc.
Se cuvine sa facem un mic profil al celor patru protagonisti incepand cu Anna, care este cea mai furioasa si plina de ura dintre toti. Ea uraste absolut tot, fiind violenta si invidioasa, bulimica si vulgara. Spre sfarsit ne dam seama ca de multe ori braveaza, dar este in fond slaba si din calau ajunge ea insasi o victima. Este indragostita de Hans cu care ajunge sa se culce, insa acesta viseaza la bogatia Sophiei. Hans este electrician, netrecut pe la scoala, fiind mai in varsta decat ceilalti trei, dar la fel de imatur. El este executantul lui Rainer, ascultand tot ce spune el fara sa priceapa mare lucru. E mandru ca n-a fost 'pervertit' de arta si literatura, jefuieste pentru bani, nu de dragul de a jefui ca ceilalti si vrea sa devina bogat prin orice mijloace. La final are mila pentru Anna si s-ar multumi si cu ea. Sophie este o femme fatale, vine dintr-o familie bogata si isi uraste oarecum bunastarea. Atata barbatii dar nu-i satisface niciodata. Ea are rolul de voyeur in cadrul bandei, preferand mai degraba sa se uite decat sa actioneze. Este stilata si bine imbracata iar "murdaria n-o atinge". Este cea care face rost de instructiunile pentru grenada artizanala pe care o si fabrica si cu foarte multa gratie, o si transporta intr-o posetuta la scoala, unde va exploda. Nimeni nu o suspecteaza scapand basma curata si cu asta. Rainer este indragostit de ea compunandu-i poezii romantice si visand sa citeasca impreuna Camus, insa ea nici macar nu-l lasa s-o atinga. Rainer, creierul bandei este adeptul bataii si jefuirii fara motiv. Isi uraste parintii deoarece tatal sau, fost ofiter SS si fotograf amator de pornografie o agresa des pe mama lui. Este pasionat de literatura, filosofeaza mereu desi nimeni nu-l intelege sau asculta si este indragostit de Sophie, sperand ca va reusi cumva sa se culce cu ea. Sfarsitul lui este neasteptat dar i se potriveste. Mi-a ramas in minte un citat despre literatura ce suna cam asa: "... care e la indemana oricui stie sa vorbeasca, pe care n-o stapanesc unii mai bine ca altii, dar pe care si-au adjudecat-o anumiti oameni care nu-si permit o metoda mai buna de a se ridica deasupra mediului in care traiesc."
In concluzie romanul mi-a placut foarte mult si vi-l recomand, mai ales daca sunteti un fan al cartilor lui C. Palahniuk, pentru ca veti gasi in el aceleasi ingrediente explozive care va vor incanta. In acest sens atasez si cateva citate relevante: "Moartea e oricum degeaba, dar totusi te costa viata." "...remuscarea nu te fereste de pedeapsa, iar libertatea nu poate fi atinsa decat prin pedeapsa." "Orice barbat ar vrea sa aiba toate femeile din lume, o femeie in schimb il doreste doar pe barbatul iubit, caruia ii ramane fidela." "Rainer ii explica lui Hans ca nu trebuie sa ai gandire de scriitor daca esti muncitor." "Frica si excitatia pot sa-l termine de tot pe un om neterminat." "Cel mai puternic instinct al omului e sa se elibereze de munca manuala. In acest scop, orice mijloc i se pare potrivit." "De altfel, nu exista niciu un fel de legi ale artei, fiindca arta este arta tocmai prin faptul ca nu asculta de legi." "Printre altele, unui artist i se vede in ochi talentul, care arde in adancul lor." "... daca nu ti-ar fi frica de nimic, n-ai avea nevoie sa urasti si atunci s-ar instala o indiferenta searbada. Decat asa mai bine mort."
Jelineks 1980 erschienener Roman leitet die mittlere Phase ihres Schaffens ein und findet nach 眉产别谤 mit ihren H枚hepunkt. Im Gegensatz zu diesen verarbeitet sie in Die Ausgesperrten dezidiert andere literarische Werke wie Albert Camus鈥� , Anthony Burgess und Jean-Paul Sartres . Im Zentrum des Geschehens stehen vier Freunde:
Gleich gehen Rainer und Anna zu Sophie, Anna, um dort vielleicht auf Hans zu sto脽en, Rainer, um Sophie zu erkl盲ren, weswegen man erbarmungslos zu sein hat, gegen sich und andere. Aber noch mehr gegen andere. Unter seiner Anf眉hrung und Anleitung wird ein Verbrechen stattfinden und hoffentlich ein weiteres, und das ist erst der Anfang der Verbrecherlaufbahn.
Rainer und Anna Witkowski, Zwillinge, und Kinder eines nunmehr einbeinigen SS-Soldaten, der seine Frau, ihre Mutter, schl盲gt und mit ihr Hobby-Pornografien anfertigt, tr盲umen davon, ihrem kleinb眉rgerlichen Alltag zu entkommen. Rainer will Literatur, Anna klassische Musikerin werden. Im Grunde wollen aber beide eine wohlhabende Existenz wie Sophie Pachhofen f眉hren, die Tennis spielt, Porsche f盲hrt und Reiten geht. Alle drei kennen sich aus dem Gymnasium, Hans Sepp, ein Arbeiterkind, und ein paar Jahre 盲lter, lebt in der Nachbarschaft der Witkowskis und liebt wie Rainer Sophie, wohingegen Anna ein Auge auf Hans geworfen hat. Als gemeinsames Hobby und unter Rainers Anleitung und Einweisung rauben sie Passanten auf und verm枚beln sie:
Anna sagt nichts mehr, sondern leckt nachdenklich Salz vom Opferschwei脽 und Blut aus den Opferkratzern von ihrer rechten Hand, der Schlaghand, was Rainer mit einem lobenden Blick bedenkt, was Sophie leicht ekelt, und was Hans dazu treibt, ihr auf die Finger zu hauen. Du Ferkel.
Mit Neologismen, Sprachspielen und Kalauern unterwandert Jelinek die M盲r, dass Bildung zu Empathie, Belesenheit zur Freundlichkeit, Humanismus zum Sanftmut f眉hrt. Allen drei steht nur eines vor Augen: ihrem Leben eine W眉rze und eine Intensit盲t zu geben, und dies m枚glich kostenfrei, also mit Perversionen. Rhythmisch, synkopisch, zerhackt als Episodenpsychogramm dargestellt, geht Jelinek szenisch, dramaturgisch vor und l盲sst ihre Figuren wie auf der B眉hne spielen und zieht in diesem Roman noch keine klare Trennlinie (kompositorisch) zu ihrer Theaterarbeit. Sprachlich, inhaltlich alleinstehend st枚ren die harten Schnitte, hier und da deuten sich aber bereits die f眉r die sp盲te Jelinek typischen subversiv-deskriptiven Passagen an:
Bald verlieren sich ihre [der Freunde] trompetenden Atemst枚脽e zwischen auslagenlosen Wohnblocks, wo gerade diverse Abendessen serviert und die Zeitungsneuigkeiten verschlungen werden. Und es verlieren sich ihre wei脽en jungen und sehr lebendigen Silhouetten zwischen grauen Betonfronten. Wei脽e Schlieren in einer sich mit rasender Geschwindigkeit drehenden Glasmurmel. Kreis im Wasser, w盲hrend der Stein darin versinkt.
Die auktoriale Erz盲hlinstanz dominiert das Geschehen, rei脽t Witze und verbl枚delt die Figuren und verleiht ihnen dadurch eine harte, klare narrative Realit盲t, die das Marionettenhafte in den Hintergrund treten lassen. Die 贰谤锄盲丑濒蝉迟颈尘尘别 selbst verschafft sich rational-pragmatisch, humoristisch, wie satirisch Distanz zum Geschehen, das dadurch umso grausamer zur Geltung zu kommen vermag. In letzter Zeit hat Raphaela Edelbauer in an Die Ausgesperrten angeschlossen, aber verfehlt die literarische, sprachliche, symbolische Radikalit盲t und Intensit盲t, mit denen Elfriede Jelinek wie gewohnt Scham und Ekel zum Anlass nimmt, sich von nichts und niemandem bange machen zu lassen, und so aus ihnen Mut ex negativo fabriziert.
--------------------------------- --------------------------------- Details 鈥� ab hier Spoilergefahr (zur Erinnerung f眉r mich): --------------------------------- ---------------------------------
Inhalt: Roman beginnt mit einem 脺berfall auf einen Prokuristen durch die vier Hauptfiguren: Hans, ein Arbeiterkind, dessen Vater in Mauthausen als Sozialdemokrat get枚tet wurden, und dessen Mutter immer noch arbeiterbewegt f眉r deren Sache einzustehen versucht und ihren Sohn daran erinnert, sich nicht mit Kleinb眉rgern einzulassen; Rainer und Anna, Sohn eines SS-Mannes, der einbeinig seine Frau schl盲gt und mit ihr Pornobilder fabriziert; und Sophie, die aus reichen Verh盲ltnissen stammt, eine Mutter hat, die Chemikerin ist. Eigentlicher Plot: Rainer treibt seine Freunde dazu an, Verbrechen zu begehen; wird aber am Ende von Sophie 眉产别谤trumpft, die eine Wurfbombe im Gymnasium z眉ndet. Daneben die Liebesgeschichten: Rainer versucht bei Sophie zu landen, blitzt aber ab; Sophie l盲sst sich auf keine Tiefergestellten ein, aber bringt Hans dazu, der auch in sie verliebt ist, vor ihr zu onanieren. Dann noch die Liebesgeschichte von Anna zu Hans, die nahezu am Ende einem Happy End entgegenstrebt, als diese ihn vom Werkstor abholt und sie sich auf eine Radtour verabreden. Bevor dies aber passiert, metzelt, um seine Besonderheit und Singularit盲t zu beweisen, Rainer seine ganze Familie ab. Sophie wird in die Schweiz gehen, und was mit Hans passiert, wei脽 keiner. 鈥� vgl. Sartres Die Eingeschlossenen von Altona, Kriegsschuld, Vater, Sohn, Ausflug mit dem Auto aufs Land. Isolation des Vaters. Und klar Uhrwerk Orange wegen der Jugendkriminalit盲t und der im Buch erw盲hnte Roman Der Fremde, in welchem die Hauptfigur auch einen Mord begeht. 鈥� episodisch, dramatisch interessant erz盲hlt, mit H枚hepunkten, keinen Strecken, klar inszeniert, etwas gewollt, hier und da, ein paar sehr theatrale Einf盲lle, aber insgesamt stimmig, in Atmosph盲re und Setting, glaubhafte Dialoge, Figuren. Episoden f眉hren aber zu einem Abzug, da hierdurch die narrative Immersion gebrochen wird. Es gibt keine durchg盲ngige Raumzeit. --> 4 Sterne
Form: Neologismen, heftige Aufwallungen, zerst枚rerische, rei脽erische Sprache, die sich selbst unterwandert, mit Kalauern, Reimen, Melodik, Zitate und Paraphrase spielt. Die symbolische Decke wird zum Einrei脽en gebracht. Genaues Lesen vonn枚ten, bis in die letzten Fugungen hinein poetisiert. Sehr eigenst盲ndige erz盲hlerische Autonomie --> 5 Sterne
贰谤锄盲丑濒蝉迟颈尘尘别: Auktorial, dezidiert allwissend, und gegen die Figuren 眉产别谤heblich, ohne ihnen die Plausibilit盲t zu nehmen, nimmt die Gedanken ernst, bewertet sie, schweift ab, verdichtet, rhythmisiert, verschafft 脺berg盲nge und Interferenzen und 脺berblendungen. Tats盲chlich au脽ergew枚hnlich gelungenes auktoriales Erz盲hlen aus dem Hintergrund mit Aufrufen, Witz und Schwung. --> 5 Sterne
Komposition: Episodenhaft, etwas schematisch inszeniert, fast wie ein Theaterst眉ck und Drehbuch, daher fehlende l盲ngere beschreibende Passagen, nicht ganz romanhaft, dadurch, fast ein Zwitter, w盲re nicht die 贰谤锄盲丑濒蝉迟颈尘尘别. Das Episodenhafte wirkt dennoch rei脽brettartig und hat etwas gek眉nstelt, gewolltes, abstraktes, das nicht aus dem Inhaltlichen, den Setting hervorgeht. Hierzu h盲tte es einer klareren Rahmenwirkung bedurft (die Stadt Wien, die Landschaft etc 鈥�); zudem 盲rgerlich klare Parteilichkeit f眉r die Mutter von Rainer, daher fast Manifestcharakter, kommunistische Polemik gegen die kleinb眉rgerliche Sozialdemokratie --> 2 Sterne
Elfriede Jelinek鈥檌n ismini 枚zellikle Piyanist filmi ve Nobel鈥檇en 枚t眉r眉 莽ok duysam da herhangi bir kitab谋n谋 okumam谋艧t谋m. D谋艧arda Kalanlar鈥櫮眓 bu a莽谋dan 艧ahane bir tan谋艧ma oldu臒unu s枚yleyebilirim. 1950鈥檒erin sonunda, Viyana鈥檇a farkl谋 sosyal kesimlerden gelen d枚rt gencin hikayesini okudu臒umuz metin okuyucuyu rahats谋z etme 眉st眉ne kurulu. Do臒rusu bunu da lay谋臒谋yla yap谋yor. Uzun zamand谋r bu kadar buz gibi hissettiren bir romanla kar艧谋la艧mam谋艧t谋m. Hemen hi莽bir karakterin elle tutulur bir yan谋 yok. Kimseyi sevmek m眉mk眉n de臒il. A臒谋r 艧iddet sahnelerinde bile 枚yle bir atmosfer yarat谋yor ki yazar d谋艧arda kalan bir izleyici gibi olan谋 biteni izlemekle yetiniyoruz sadece. B眉y眉k bir huzursuzlukla ba艧 ba艧a kal谋yoruz tabii. Karakterler aras谋 bir a艧k 眉莽geni var ki orada bile bir 艧ey hissetmek 莽ok zor. Edebiyatla bu etkiyi yaratabilmek 莽ok kolay de臒il ku艧kusuz. Sava艧 sonras谋 Avusturya鈥檚谋na daha do臒rusu Avusturya toplumuna dair 枚nemli tespitleri var yazar谋n. Gen莽ler 眉zerinden anlam aray谋艧谋n谋, bireyin de toplumun da nas谋l bir bo艧lu臒un i莽erisinde oldu臒unu g枚steriyor. Eski Naziler, i艧莽i s谋n谋f谋, aristokratlar vs. hepsi bu ele艧tirilerden nasibini al谋yor. 艦iddetin hemen her t眉rl眉s眉n眉n nas谋l kendine yer edindi臒ini de ayn谋 艧ekilde 莽ok g眉zel 艧ekilde anlat谋yor. Benzetmek gerekirse tam bir Michael Haneke filmi izlemi艧 gibi hissediyorsunuz. Piyanist鈥檌 uyarlayan谋n da Haneke olmas谋 kesinlikle tesad眉f de臒il yani bunu kesin olarak anlad谋m. O nas谋l 鈥渋zleyicime huzursuz seyirler dilerim鈥� diyorsa, Jelinek de okuyucusuna ayn谋s谋n谋 diyor. Hi莽 ac谋madan sa臒l谋 sollu bas谋yor tokad谋. T眉m g眉c眉 de burada yat谋yor. Jelinek鈥檌n di臒er eserlerini okumak i莽in sab谋rs谋zlan谋yorum.
It is not surprising that Elfriede Jelinek religiously maintains her exact same tone throughout this fine and caustic work. Covered by molasses would be a fair analogy to the feeling I get as she expresses her cynicism, irony, and sarcasm in her clever use of dialogue and action. She is extremely facetious in all her chronological accountings. Even if most of her words somehow avoid a physical eruption in my body they still live as a drip inside my head. And because of her chosen words and depictions this book then proves to be one of the most violent books I have ever put my eyes to. Cormac McCarthy鈥檚 Judge in has absolutely nothing over Jelinek the Writer. She is most brutal in her presentation and reasoning. Her justifications on the page are brutally honest attempts to seek the truth behind all behaviors. Sadly, for me, there are few instances, if any, when this book actually becomes a joy to read. It remains always difficult, and Jelinek seems to be challenging the reader to get beyond the typical desire to be suspended from reality and occasionally transported out of one鈥檚 life. She instead duly rams her diseased and harsh palpability into the face of every hungry reader looking for a better escape. Elfriede Jelinek is a force to be reckoned with. She is waiting.
1. Jelinek is wholly devoted to the misery that history vomits out, downright swims through it in uncompromising and brutally austere ways not many would dare, to the point where there鈥檚 no enjoyment, no pleasurable mode of reading attached to this, only a lingering unease with every page.
2. She might well be one of my new favorite authors.
O powojennym nihilizmie, powtarzaj膮cej si臋 spirali przemocy i problemach z rozliczeniem z przesz艂o艣ci膮. Jelinek bywa naprawd臋 trafna w swoich ocenach dotycz膮cych spo艂ecze艅stwa, nic dziwnego wi臋c, 偶e tyle os贸b jej nienawidzi. Du偶o bardziej ironiczna i cyniczna ni偶 鈥濸ianistka鈥�, tak samo 艣wietnie napisana, ale nie porwa艂a mnie a偶 tak bardzo- lepiej sprawdzi艂oby si臋 dla mnie skupienie na jednostce lub chocia偶by na rodze艅stwie. Nadal mocne 3.5.
Suffering is for sissies, full blown hurting is order of the day!
"Anna despises two classes of people: first, those who own their own homes and have cars and families, and second, everybody else. Constantly she is on the verge of exploding." Pretty much sums up the tone of this novel.
The setting is post-war Austria, late 1950s. After signing a treaty, occupied forces had left Austria. Bourgeois war criminals have been forgiven and taken back the reins of Austria again. Past fascist crimes and skeletons are comfortably hidden in closets. Economic bloom.
Elfride Jelenik's 'Wondeful, Wonderful Times' explores a few weeks of four violent adolescents' activities. Novel starts with a violence, wherein these four youths attack and loot a complete stranger, out for walking in municipal park. The novel ends with an even more brutal violence. Rest of the fiction involves depicting darker sides of human beings. Compared to 'The Piano Teacher' and 'Lust', this novel has more characters, 7 to be precise. So, it naturally gives Ms. Jelenik more opportunities to explore filthy side of human beings in turmoil. And, she capitalized it wonderfully.
The foursome is a worthy enough sample to explore class structures and conflicts. One (Hans) is from an working class family rooted in socialism, two (Rainer & Anna) are from a petite bourgeois family, whose father is an ex-SS. Remaining one (Sophie) is from an aristocratic family, which made fortunes during war time, using forced laborers. While Hans and Sophie could elude the madness because of aspiration for economic ascent and assured financial foundation respectively, it is an irony that Rainer and Anna gradually degenerate into ashes.
Pessimism, Domestic abuse, Perversion, Misanthropism, Brutal crimes, Cowardice, Misunderstood Existentialism, Depression, House corners with piled up garbage, Dirt, Sweat, Hatred, Humiliation鈥� About three fourth into the novel, paused a moment to wonder why was I reading this book. Do we really need these kind of books? Life is no fairy tale! And, life is not only of misery things either! However, not many dare to explore these dark areas. Of them, only a few can handle with surgeon like precision. Ms. Jelenik's impassive approach in this novel is really a rarity in fiction writing. Whereas 'A Clockwork Orange', Charles Bukawski's novels and other transgressive fictions sometimes tend to show crimes in glamorous light and tempt a reader into filthiness, Ms. Jelenik's characters at best emote only pity for them. You despise their acts, you despise their characters, but you never want to be one of them. Ms. Jelenik cleverly employs voices and mocking counter voices with a dry humor. Every other line makes you to laugh and cry at the same time.
Do not get misled by the title, it is about anything but of wonderful times.
Austria must be a really fucked up place. Granted, this perception is based almost solely upon the films of Michael Haneke, and now, the books of Elfriede Jelinek (who also wrote The Piano Teacher which Haneke made into a film)
In this story, four intellectual and rebellious teenagers commit a series of violent crimes just for the sake of violence. In their spare time they misread existentialist works, go to school, have terrible family-lives, and some fuck people as a form of manipulation. The twins, Rainer and Anna are the most despicable and pathetic, but rich girl Sophie and lower class Hans are right up there. The characters are in no way meant to be sympathetic, and are meant to satirize post-war Austria; dealing with Nazi pasts, xenophobia, and sexual perversions.
This book reads very much like a Haneke film, so for that reason, most certainly cannot be recommended to nearly anyone. However, if one finds those films interesting and has a stomach for disturbing scenes, then Wonderful Wondeful Times may be worth your attention.
Titulo: Los excluidos Autor: Elfriede Jelinek Motivo de lectura: #RetoPremios2024 Lectura / Relectura: Lectura Fisico / Electronico: Electronico Mi edicion: - Puntuacion: 3.5/5
B谩sicamente seguimos un grupo adolescente lidiando con su d铆a a d铆a, con la sociedad, con el despertar sexual. Este es un grupo muy particular donde la din谩mica grupal se basa en aspectos realmente muy negativos, desde la perversi贸n con rasgos psic贸patas, la manipulaci贸n sexual, y las acciones sin escr煤pulos est谩n a la orden del d铆a.
Lo que m谩s destacar铆a es la prosa de la autora, a pesar del horror, es realmente bella su manera de escribir.
El final? Simplemente brutal (aunque no me sorprendio).
Wonderful, Wonderful Times 鈥淚n reality I am revolted by my desires. But the desires are stronger than I am.鈥�
Music annihilates distinction: The indistinct chords promise the fine-tune of harmony, of melody, of strings, flutes, clarinets, and voices working in perfect order; while the distinct chords, forever straining under the musician鈥檚 adept fingers, revolt against the oppressive order; their harsh, inconsonant sounds in the milieu of musical grandiosity, struggle to remain stiff and alone, but alas, they must give away, the musician argues; the musician beats one more time, and the chords, both distinct and indistinct, sounding the beat of pleasure and pain, reach a crescendo; the musician smiles, the crowd applauses, the violence of annihilation fills them with ecstasy. Elfriede Jelinek鈥檚 鈥淲onderful, Wonderful Times鈥�, set in the post-war Austria (late 1950s), which is struggling to get on its feet after a failed Socialist uprising and suffering the wounds of defeat in the Second World War, charts the story of four teenagers and how they spend their everyday lives engaging in wanton acts of cold-blooded violence. The novelization is haunting, for part it mostly focuses on the internal thoughts of characters, and the characters are an unlikeable lot. 鈥淧eople should not be beaten up for the reasons of hatred but for no reason at all, it should be an end in itself, admonishes her brother, Rainer.鈥� The forewarning appears in the beginning of the novel, where the four teenagers assault an unguarded foreigner. While describing the attack, Jelinek makes every attempt to normalize it. The attack is seen as a direct result of the baggage of hatred the people of her country carry after the war. It鈥檚 important to keep the context in perspective while reading her novel. The events are described in astonishing fluidity. All sorts of perversions take place. The one-legged father beats up his wife and kids to make up for loss of his masculinity- possibly resulting from seeing the carnage of naked women and a failed Nazi uprising; he ogles in public, takes naked pictures of his wife, and uses every tool to inflict violence upon her. His son, Rainer, sworn to a life of an artist, which he sees as full of opportunities to assert one-self and create a cult of own, dabbles in existential literature and uses it to exhort others to rationalize their deviant urges. The teenagers, tired by the misery, drudgery, and squalor of the country, find refuge and freedom in their wanton acts. They steal, assault, and even kill. 鈥淲e need the universally valid norm to get a kick out of our own extremeness.鈥� Jelinek鈥檚 tone is hateful and repugnant. Be it an artist or a philistine, no one is spared. The acrid stench issues out of every word and pore of this book, till the bile is clogged in the reader鈥檚 throat. Yet she sustains it by her passion of reading into human behavior in times of desperation. She sees 鈥榝ilth鈥� as a natural phenomenon, if one is left to one鈥檚 wild, untamed instincts. 鈥淓very child is instinctively drawn towards filth, till you pull it back.鈥� 鈥淲onderful, Wonderful Times鈥� is intensely harrowing. The final act of the book left me running for the covers. It鈥檚 steeped in decadence, violence, and sexual depravity and treats these as natural processes for understanding human mind and behavior. There are times when the book goes overboard and become a parody of it-self; but such instances are rare and are overshadowed by the brute force of Jelinek鈥檚 literary power. The teenagers are sexually voracious, self-willed, angry individuals who threaten and demonize the stifling order that enfolds them. This is the angriest and scariest book that I鈥檝e ever read. Her work reverberates like chamber music. It doesn鈥檛 attempt to challenge anything. It only shows. In that way, it鈥檚 a spectacle: take it or leave it.
鈥淎nd then there was that sentimental Hans Christian Andersen movie. The star killed himself and his wife and children because the wife was Jewish. Before he died he had one final opportunity to display his profoundly humane brand of humor, which was not a destructive sense of humor. That kind of humor only works if it comes from deep inside. Deep inside he was lacerated by fast-acting poison. Some people die less conspicuously and perhaps the torment they suffer is even greater. As it was, his innards were torn apart and all that remained to posterity of the Danish teller of fairy tales was celluloid. Something survived him, at any rate. What wonderful, wonderful times they were. Scorching hot desert sand.鈥�
Simple declarative sentences, epigrammatically mapping a deep and troubling national malaise. Seriously, this just pours the vitriol. I wonder if it's possible that Jelinek hates Austria as much Bernhard? In any event these three stars are just my subjective enjoyment of this, which for some reason never fully clicked with the material, though Jelinek is clearly vital and essential. Will be checking out more, perhaps The Piano Teacher, of which the film version is utterly devastating.
W tej - a tak偶e w innych powie艣ciach Jelinek, kt贸re czyta艂am - zachodz膮 pewne paradoksalne i pozornie wykluczaj膮ce si臋 zjawiska, kt贸re pozostawiaj膮 czytelniczk臋 (mnie) w pe艂nym zachwytu zdumieniu. Ta powie艣膰 jest dowodem na to, 偶e mo偶na: a) uprawia膰 krytyk臋 spo艂eczn膮, nie b臋d膮c jednocze艣nie "zaanga偶owanym" (to idealnie, bo nie znosz臋 Literatury Zaanga偶owanej) b) pisa膰 j臋zykiem tak bardzo swoim i w艂asnym, 偶e brzmi jak ze swojej w艂asnej, osobistej planety, jednocze艣nie u偶ywaj膮c niemal wy艂膮cznie j臋zykowych kalek, klisz, cytat贸w, szablon贸w, parodii i ironicznych nawi膮za艅 (mi ju偶 sam styl Jelinek wystarczy艂by do szcz臋艣cia) c) by膰 w samym centrum opisywanych wydarze艅, tak blisko jak tylko mo偶na (patrzymy z tak bliska, 偶e krew ofiar opryskuje nam okulary) a jednocze艣nie by膰 zdystansowanym na niewyobra偶alnym poziomie ironii i sarkazmu d) by膰 takim idealist膮 i tak bardzo kocha膰 艣wiat, 偶e a偶 si臋 go (r贸wnie mocno) znienawidzi.
Nie polecam osobom, kt贸re pytaj膮 "A o czym ta ksi膮偶ka?" (dlatego te偶 nie pisz臋 "o czym ta ksi膮偶ka"), kt贸re szukaj膮 bohater贸w do na艣ladowania i identyfikowania si臋, kt贸re toleruj膮 jedynie mi艂e przes艂ania i kt贸re uwa偶aj膮, 偶e ksi膮偶ka ma krzepi膰. Krzepi膰 to mo偶e cukier (albo w贸dka, nawet lepiej). "Ksi膮偶ka musi by膰 jak top贸r, by rozr膮ba膰 zamarzni臋te w nas morze" - Franz Kafka. Najwspanialszym paradoksem w przypadku powie艣ci Jelinek jest to, 偶e - mimo 偶e r膮bie - niczego w nas nie rozr膮buje.
The first thing that always strikes me about Jelinek's work is how she manages to use such "dirty" language. I naturally don't mean cursing, but I do mean her inexplicable ability to always use the exact word in a situation that leaves the reader feeling as if they need to shower after her writing. This characteristic comes across to me, even a non-native German speaker, and seems intrinsic to her writing style. That said, this ability is a very good once since she writes about "dirty" things. Not necessarily inhuman, but certainly nonsocial, the darkest parts of human interaction. Perhaps the most striking part is that she does so as if a passive observer, merely telling the facts and actions as they occur, with little speculation as to the motivations of the reader (a technique which only works for her in light of the fact that almost all books these days explore the internal landscapes of the protaganists) and ultimately leave the reader feeling very ambiguous about their narrator.
Also, without giving away any spoilers, it is my personal belief that this book is about change, and the dangers of being unable to do so in light of darkness.
La austriaca Elfriede Jelinek fue nobel de literatura en 2004 "por su flujo musical de voces y contra-voces en novelas y obras teatrales que, con extraordinario celo ling眉铆stico, revelan lo absurdo de los clich茅s de la sociedad y su poder subyugante".
Jelinek a causado mucha pol茅mica con su premiaci贸n en el nobel, muchos cr铆ticos la ponen en la lista de las personas que no debieron ganarlo. Sin embargo, a mi gusto como lector, la presente novela, Los Excluidos, me ha sorprendido mucho y me ha gustado y disgustado hasta cierto punto.
La historia se desarrolla en Austria, despu茅s de la segunda guerra mundial, donde los protagonistas son unos chicos de bachillerato, cuatro j贸venes entre 18 a 20 a帽os, que se aprovechan de las secuelas de la guerra, en una sociedad deteriorada, para cometer vandalismo, vandalismo del m谩s despiadado.
El libro es muy fuerte y chocante, por la edad en la que est谩n los j贸venes nos describen sus primeras experiencias en el 谩mbito de la sexualidad, y tambi茅n las complicaciones familiares por las que atreviesan.
Por 煤ltimo, el final del libro es de lo m谩s cruel, pareciera novela de terror, del terror m谩s crudo que se pueda leer.
This was a bleak and horrifying book, but also an impressive one. I haven't read anything else by this author, not even her more famous book, The Piano Teacher. It took me quite a while to get into the writing style, which has a stream of consciousness on drugs feel to it. The point of view leaps from character to character and the thoughts run together in a way that is disorienting throughout, but in the skilled hands of this author, manages to work. Still, the book describes violence and sex quite graphically and is not for the feint of heart.
The book traces the thoughts of four screwed up teenagers who commit violent crimes just for something to do/because of screwed up philosophical musings/because they are the children of a retired Nazi. Throughout, discussions of philosophy (accurate and inaccurate readings both) are interspersed with discussions of the mundane and the horrifying. These characters are not sympathetic at all, but they are compelling.
Published in 1980, Wonderful Wonderful Times is a novel whose title is a complete contradiction to anything of what the book is indicative of. Understood and accepted. For me, however, it was a confirming piece of drip-drab fiction that only reiterated my original assessment of her after reading the perennial fan favorite, The Piano Teacher, a butcher job of a novel if ever there was one. This novel could take second honors, however.
Set in the 1950s after WWII, Austria is trying to assume an air of normality and goodness, letting the past be the past and keeping the ghosts of history forcibly at bay. There are no spillover ramifications from the atrocities of war. In truth, that is untrue, but the character elders in Jelinek's stiff and poorly written and unconvincing novel would be hard pressed to have it otherwise, for their contaminated "children" are defects of a dark and wanted closeted history, poisoned brats who are extensions of the prior Hitlerian generation, perhaps a new "lost" generation.
By using internal thoughts and musings, Jelinek creates a battered, soulless, snotty teen world, pumped up with lust and all the trappings that so commonly ensnare youths with their more-often-than-not unfounded angst and bitterness. Forget the dark nether reaches of the goth world and the escapist play games of the mentally demented, for the four direct characters: Rainer Witkowski, his sister Anna, Hans Sepp and Sophie, their world is the here and right now. It is the prowling and the attacking, the lying and the arrogant indifference, the self-absorption and the truthfulness in all the horror of the above said actions, the Nazi element being in all of those traits that fostered the cruel lunacy of human evil. The teens are not retaliatory of the past. They are a modernized re incarceration of it. And herein is Elfriede Jelinek's greatest shortcoming. Her plot is simply unconvincing and poorly strung together, an altogether limp and trite piece of nonsense, just like the unremarkable The Piano Teacher.
The characters who have the potential for something greater are obviously stunted, even deliberately so, but their attempts at unmasking the hypocrisy of those in their immediate environment and even further away falls way too short, and no amount of ad-libbed "justified" philosophy as preached by Rainer compels those actions to be any more right than wrong. They are not preachers of reflection and healing. They are punks. They don't even come close. It is just too ridiculous and stupid, and I found myself saying, Give me a break! Mediocrity of this nature could be taught in a creative writing 101 class. This was dystopian fiction at its worst, and Anthony Burgess-were he still alive-could have taught Jelinek a thing or two.
Not long ago, members of the Nobel Academy were asked if mistakes had been made in who had and who had not been selected to be a Nobel laureate, for Jelinek was so honored in 2004 for the "musical flow of voices and counter-voices..." Admittedly, he said yes, that errors had happened, first and foremost that Karen Blixen also known as Isak Diensen, the Danish authoress of Out of Africa was not chosen, that that was a big regret. He said that some authors should not have been selected, but he stopped short as to mentioning who specifically. It made me wonder if it was a not-too-subtle swipe at Jelinek's surprise selection, for an academy member did resign his post due to his very strong beliefs in her lack of literary merit. If a reader must pick up this book, be wowed not by its supposed merit and accolades, be stupefied by its pretentiousness and sloppiness.
Reading Jelinek's work is like eating cotton candy infused with jagged shards of broken glass and realizing that that specific ratio of sugar to blood is rather addictive. She pours gallons of kerosene onto your unsuspecting brain and tosses an ever so deliberate match. Jelinek attacks the reader while also informing one that one is in on whatever bleak joke she happens to throw one's way.
It's thrilling and enlivening regardless of the brutality of what she describes. It makes sense why she would be called eine Nestbeschmutzerin (a nest-polluter, pointing to, in this case, her hypercritical writing regarding the status of her native Austria) just based off of this novel alone. Yet it feels so salient and justified. She is trying to provoke Austria, a nation that she believes to be an utter failure, a purely autodefiled malignancy in its ineffective handling of the oh so recent fascism in which it partook, into having any sort of resolute pulse in the face of Naziism. Her method of doing so is barreling forward into the grim virulence of history that is never dealt with to the point that the following generations develop in an era/eras of ideological pneumonia found in the plentiful, amnesiac historiographical fog that seems to swarm and, subsequently, cloud individuals' judgments as well as cultural mindsets.
How can someone possibly read this and not even try to begin to process an entirely unprocessed past? It's a progressive call-to-action in gasoline-prose.
Sidenote: This reminds me, vaguely, of Catcher in the Rye in how Jelinek adopts the coming-of-age (Bildungsroman) setup and distorts it into a symbolic structure of teenage angst acting as a representation of the dissonance between those that were Nazis during WWII and their children who grow up in fascist households and take on certain complexes to the point of necessitating violence.
Another sidenote: The obnoxious existentialist literary references that constitute much of Rainer's dialogue (because he has absolutely nothing going for him but his supposed intellectualism provides him the ability to believe himself to be superior and thus a leader even though Hans, the embodiment of the working-class in this "friend group," can physically denounce him at any time) are, at first, so tied to the extended mocking of Rainer and Anna's pretension but then point to how Jelinek's novel actually takes many notes from Camus' The Stranger, beyond the referencing. The ending in particular possibly points to the damaging nature of unqualified existentialist theory as comprehended by those with fascist notions embedded within them at a young age subconsciously in a manner reminiscent of both the pivotal scene of Camus' classic as well as its ending.
Last sidenote: Jelinek is funny. So funny. If she didn't have such a biting sense of humor, especially in the face of all the gruesome content she doles out, she would honestly be unreadable.
Elfriede Jelinek was born in Austria and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004.
It took me quite a few pages to understand and adapt to her writing style but once I did this book became an interesting but uncomfortable read. A decade and a half after WW2 and ex-Nazis and concentration camp survivors are left in the past with their terrible secrets while their children roam the streets of Vienna carving out a new and oft times more brutal society.
This book reminded me of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea minus the sailor. Kids can be real bad, and I don鈥檛 mean not eating their vegetables bad.
A couple of lines that particularly stuck in my head:
鈥淏ecause everday life more often tends to destroy sensitivities than create them.鈥�
鈥淎nna hits her forehead with her fist, but nothing comes out and nothing goes in either.鈥�
I鈥檝e noticed that too. Even when I bang my head on my desk my thoughts stay imprisoned; neither being receptive or giving鈥�
I'll probably give this author a bit more attention. This book was crafted differently. The viewpoint roamed from one character to the next. Dialog was written without quotations or breaks in lines and who said what was indicated by name in parentheses. Reading the book, I felt like a little spirit flitting through the thoughts and actions of each character. This technique put me on the street with the players; I was part of their group. But getting that close to the characters was a bit uncomfortable... they were not likeable at all.
Austria in the post-war period has closed the door on the past and has not had any sort of reckoning with its history. No one is happy; Nazis have lost their former 'glory' and respect, their former enemies did not see the Nazis punished and the young people have no future.
The main characters are a group of teens who are set to leave high school and are starting to contemplate their future, or lack of it. They are anarchists and nihilists who think the whole world needs to be torn down, or at least that's what they tell themselves. But, really, it is all an act. Their anarchism, for example, is really no more than an opportunity to justify theft and to afford nice things. They crave recognition, respect and love and dream of a glorious future, and are striking out at a society that has taken this away from them before they had a chance.
Ordinarily, I don't appreciate angsty teens - although they probably surpass simple angst - and I still found the characters irritating at times but here I can at least understand why they might have a right to feel aggrieved. The main positive for me, though, is the style, which took some getting used to but was really enjoyable once I got it. It was pleasingly disjointed.
Overall, I would recommend it and it was a rare Nobel Prize winner that I liked, although it is pretty depressing and miserable so won't be for everyone.