Biography
Elfirede Jelinek was born 20 October 1946 in Mürzzuschlag, is an
Austrian feminist playwright and novelist, and Nobel Prize in Literature
laureate for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices
in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal
the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."
Jelinek's
work is multi-faceted and highly controversial. It has been by turns
praised and condemned by leading literary critics. Likewise, her
political activism evokes divergent and often heated reactions. Despite
the public controversy surrounding her work, Jelinek has won many
distinguished prizes, among them are the Georg Büchner Prize in 1998;
the Müllheim Dramatists Prize in 2002 and 2004; the Franz Kafka Prize
in 2004; and the Nobel Prize in Literature, also in 2004. Prevalent
topics in her prose and dramatic works are female sexuality, its
abuse and the war of the sexes in general. Texts such as Wir sind
Lockvögel, Baby! (We are Decoys, Baby!), Die Liebhaberinnen (The
Lovers) and Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Player) showcase the
brutality and power play inherent in human relations in a style that
is at times ironically formal and tightly controlled.
According to
Jelinek, power and aggression are often the principal driving forces
of relationships. In her later work, Jelinek has somewhat abandoned
female issues to focus her energy on social criticism in general
and Austria's difficulties to owning up to its Nazi past in particular;
an example is Die Kinder der Toten (The Children of the Dead).
Bibliography
- Bukolit. Hörroman, 1979
- Wir sind lockvögel baby!, 1970
- Michael. Ein Jugendbuch für die
Infantilgesellschaft, 1972
- Die Liebhaberinnen, 1975
- Die Ausgesperrten, 1980
- Die Klavierspielerin, 1983
- Oh Wildnis, oh Schutz vor ihr, 1985
- Lust, 1989
- Die Kinder der Toten, 1997
- Gier; Reinbek 2000
- Neid: Privatroman; 2007
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Austria