Yerljenek Collection---Greed

Author: (Austria) Elfriede Jelinek
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Rural police Kurt, for both money and women, specializes in harming women, and has committed numerous atrocities. The novel depicts him indulging his animal desires on a young woman, attempting to seize her property, and after his crimes are exposed, he kills the victim and dumps the 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 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, then covets her house. The next is a girl under the age of sixteen, who becomes infatuated with the man. Because she poses a threat to his plans, he kills her. When her body is found in the lake, the older lover becomes suspicious, guessing the police officer's secret. Elfriede Jelinek skillfully blends a detective story, romantic writing, and a light-hearted novel into an entertaining game. A narrator frequently appears in the events. The author uses his voice to mockingly say, "People often accuse me of standing foolishly there, knocking down my characters before they even stand up." The novel's themes of money and desire stem not only from a minor character but, more notably, from the unrestrained "greed" of those in power.