A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
1972 novella by Peter Handke
 First edition | |
| Author | Peter Handke |
|---|---|
| Original title | Wunschloses Unglück |
| Translator | Ralph Manheim |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | 1972 Residenz Verlag 1975 (English) |
| Publication place | Austria |
| Pages | 98 |
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (German: Wunschloses Unglück) is a 1972 semi-autobiographical novella by the Austrian writer Peter Handke. It describes the life of Handke's mother Maria, who committed suicide on 19 November 1971.[1]
Reception
Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 2003: "Mental illness is a phrase you won't find in Handke's account of his mother's death, yet it surely waits in the wings. ... While the pleasure, if this is the word, of reading Handke comes from the existential assumptions of his story, it is important to realize that suicide -- the reality, as opposed to the idea (which Camus seemed to savor) -- is not an existential dilemma. It is the final, tragic outcome of a psychiatric illness. Yet how prepared are we for this knowledge?"[2] Karl Ove Knausgård described the novella as one of the “most important books written in German in our time”.[3]
See also
- 1972 in literature
- Austrian literature
References
- ^ "Zeittafel". peterhandke.at (in German). Archived from the original on 2008-01-09. Retrieved 2014-03-05.
- ^ Curwen, Thomas (2003-01-05). "Choosing against life". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
- ^ Rashid, Tanjil (2016-12-06). "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke — memoir, suffering and politics". Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
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Peter Handke
Bibliography
- Offending the Audience (1966)
- Kaspar (1967)
- The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (1992)
- Storm Still (2010)
- The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1970)
- Short Letter, Long Farewell (1972)
- A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (1972)
- A Moment of True Feeling (1975)
- Slow Homecoming (1979)
- Repetition (1986)
- Once Again for Thucydides (1990)
- My Year in the No-Man's-Bay (1994)
- A Journey to the Rivers (1996)
- Crossing the Sierra de Gredos (2002)
- The Moravian Night (2008)
- Written and directed: The Left-Handed Woman (1978)
- The Absence (1992)
- Written only: The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty (1972)
- The Wrong Move (1975)
- Wings of Desire (1987)
- Subject: Peter Handke: In the Woods, Might Be Late (2016)
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