Greed

Author: (Austria) Elfriede Jelinek / Du Xinhua / Wu Yukang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Rural police Kurt, who is both greedy for money and women, specializes in harming women and committing countless evils. The novel depicts him indulging his animalistic desires on a young woman, attempting to seize her property, and after his crimes are exposed, he kills the victim and dumps her body in a lake. The author focuses on male violence and the defense of women's rights. Rural police Kurt J?nisch—a "handsome and outwardly cheerful man"—hates women's affection. He is greedy for both money and women, coveting the property of single women as if possessed, determined to take both the person and the wealth. As a police officer, he knows where to find victims, often jotting down women's license plate numbers and addresses with a ballpoint pen by the roadside.
One victim is a middle-aged woman who moved from the city to the countryside to escape loneliness in nature—a woman disillusioned with life, completely no match for the police. The police makes her compliant in bed and then covets her house. The next is a girl under the age of sixteen, who becomes infatuated with the man. However, because she poses a threat to his plans, he kills her. When her body is found in the lake, the older lover becomes suspicious and guesses the police's secret. Elfriede Jelinek skillfully blends a detective story, romantic prose, and a light-hearted novel into an entertaining game. A narrator frequently appears in the events, speaking with irony through his voice: "People often accuse me of being foolish, standing there like a fool before my characters even stand up." The novel's themes of money and lust stem not only from a minor character but, more strikingly, from the unbridled "greed" of those in power.