Handke, Peter

Handke, Peter (1942- ), Austrian poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and film director.

Handke was born in Griffen on December 6, 1942. He studied law at the University of Graz from 1961 to 1965. He began writing novels, plays, poetry, and prose pieces almost simultaneously with the aim of distancing himself from established literary conventions and establishing contact with the “heile Natur”, or inner world, a concept he derived from Goethe. His work is considered representative of the style Neue Subjektivität. In 1966 he published his first novel Der Hornissen (The Hornets), and had three plays produced, including Publikumsbeschimpfung (Offending the Audience), a controversial piece of antitheatre in which four actors discuss the audience. His first collection of poems, Die Innenwelt der Aussenwelt der Innenwelt (The Inner World of the Outer World of the Inner World) appeared in 1969. From his detective story Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (1970; The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty Kick), he co-wrote a screenplay with Wim Wenders for the film Wenders directed, a collaboration that was repeated with the film Der Himmel über Berlin (1987; Wings of Desire). He also directed such films as Die Linkshandige Frau (1977; The Left-Handed Woman) from his own short story. His plays include Kaspar (1968), based on the story of Kaspar Hauser, and Der Ritt über den Bodensee (1971; The Ride Across Lake Constance). In 1972 Handke published a biography of his mother following her suicide, Wunschloses Unglück (A Sorrow Beyond Dreams).

In the late 1970s, with the novel Langsame Heimkehr (1979; Slow Homecoming), Handke turned away from narrative storytelling. His work became increasingly reflective, dwelling on the writer’s thoughts and moods, and the process of writing itself, as in Nachmittag eines Schriftstellers (1987; The Afternoon of a Writer) and Mein Jahr in der Niemandsbucht (1994; My Year in the No-Man's-Bay). His most recent novels are In einer dunklen Nacht ging ich aus meinem stillen Haus (1997; On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House), Der Bildverlust (2002), and Don Juan (2004). His numerous works in all media have been both highly praised and severely criticized for their concern with the nature of language and meaning, their frequent dependence on autobiographical elements, and their use of unconventional techniques.

In 1996 Handke caused a furore with his pro-Serbian views in the travelogue Gerechtigkeit für Serbien. Eine winterliche Reise an den Flüssen Donau, Save, Morawa, und Orina (Justice for Serbia. A Winter Journey to the Rivers Danube, Sava, Morava, and Drina). He was an outspoken critic of Western media coverage of the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian War in his play Die Fahrt im Einbaum oder Das Stück zum Film vom Krieg (1999; The Journey in the Dugout Canoe, or the Play about the Film of the War), and controversially returned the prize money he had won in 1973 from Germany’s most prestigious literary award, the Büchner Prize, in protest at the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.