Totenhaus

Author: (Austrian) Elfriede Jelinek / Shen Xiliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Elfriede Jelinek represents a raw and bloody truth, and no literary fiction can touch the human soul more profoundly than reality, though it may be extremely unpleasant. Reading Jelinek requires extraordinary courage. — Associate Professor Hu Chunchun, Department of German, Tongji University
The social phenomena or issues criticized in Jelinek's works exist in both Western and Eastern countries. For example, social injustice, gender inequality, and violence against women, etc. As a mirror to society, her works allow us to see more directly the problems and shortcomings in society. — Ms. Figueras, Director of the Cultural Office, Austrian Embassy in China
In her novels and plays, various voices and counter-voices flow and interact, revealing the absurdity and coercive power of stale social thoughts and language with unique linguistic passion. — Swedish Academy
Jelinek's plays are difficult to define in terms of style. The author navigates between genres, and many of her plays can be read as prose. There are few characters, long stretches of dialogue, and each character seems to be "talking to themselves." Some plays are entirely monologues by a single person. If some plays, such as Clara S. (1982), Burgtheater (1985), and Krankheit oder Moderne Frauen (1987), are still considered traditional theater with scenes, acts, characters, and dialogue, then other plays can fully be regarded as "prose written for the stage." Wolken. Heim (1988) blends quotes from figures like H?lderlin, Kleist, Fichte, Hegel, and Heidegger with letters from prisoners of the Red Army Faction. In Totenauberg (1991), the protagonists—an elderly man and a middle-aged woman—are undoubtedly Heidegger and Hannah Arendt, and their dialogue is the author's response to the political reality of Austria and Europe. Der Tod und das M?dchen I–V consists of five separate works written at different times, each featuring a female protagonist (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rosamunde, Jacqueline Kennedy, American poet Plath, and German poet Bachmann). These works show tragic women created from a male perspective and their inescapable fate from a "prince." There are few characters, mostly long soliloquies or dialogues, making them seem more suitable for reading than performance. The author once said of her plays, "The dialogue is written with the theater in mind, but not for a single stage performance. The characters have already fully expressed themselves." She also said, "I do not pursue characters who have lost their edges due to flaws and weaknesses. I pursue debate and strong contrasts. This is a woodcut technique. I chop into it so that the places where my characters enter will no longer grow weeds."