Scolding the audience

Publikumsbeschimpfung

◎ A classic work that despises the audience and the theater◎ It's like entering a torture chamber, like sitting on pins and needles, wanting to be angry but unable to, wanting to leave but unable to.◎ Wim Wenders' favorite writer; the idol followed by 2004 Nobel Prize winner Jelinek.◎ This book is a collection of plays, consisting of three plays, including "Self-Accusation", "Insult to the Audience" and "Kaspar".
Self-Accusation has only two self-accusers, not traditional dramatic characters. Standing on an empty stage, the two characters recount their offenses from beginning to end, with no scenes or dialogues, only alternating voices.
"Scolding the Audience" lacks the traditional plot and scenes, nor the dramatic characters, events, or dialogue. Instead, it features four nameless speakers hysterically "scolding" the audience on a stage devoid of scenery or curtains, a complete rejection of traditional drama. Reading it feels like entering a torture chamber, like sitting on pins and needles, unable to rage or leave.
"Kaspar" is as subversive to traditional drama as "Waiting for Godot," depicting the story of a man named Kaspar learning to speak. Handke depicts how, after learning to speak, humans become tortured by language, enslaved by it, and controlled by it. This "language" often merely expresses traditional consciousness or the consciousness of the rulers, and now, it is this language that has domesticated humans themselves.
Peter is my closest friend. Among contemporary writers, his works are the only ones I feel closest to, understand the most, and love to read the most.
——Wim Wenders ◎ There is no doubt that Handke has that kind of deliberate toughness and knife-sharp emotions. In his language, he is the best writer.
——John Updike◎ Handke is a living classic. He is more qualified to win the Nobel Prize than I am.
——Elfriede Jelinek ◎ Among contemporary writers on the theme of self-discovery, Handke is the best.
—The New York Times Book Review
◎ Handke was, and remains, the most outstanding narrative writer and playwright in postwar Europe.
—The Boston Globe

2013-01-01

上海人民出版社

Century Wenjing

232

9787208108462