Repetition (Handke novel)

Repetition (German: Die Wiederholung) is a 1986 novel by the Austrian writer Peter Handke. It tells the story of an Austrian of mixed German and Slovenian heritage, who goes to communist Yugoslavia in a search for identity.

Reception

David Pryce-Jones of The New York Times wrote "The intention is to shatter Austrian complacency, utterly to reject the national conspiracy of silence and evasion, so that the Austrian at last can be his own man. Admirable as this would be, Mr. Handke is not the writer for it. To some extent, the alienation of this novel is attributable to the deliberate distancing of its style." Pryce-Jones continued: "More crucially, Repetition reveals one man set so implacably against his fellows that he can do nothing but pity himself and hate them. Surrender to these reactions serves to extend the Nazi legacy rather than to destroy it. New beginnings without humanity are not new beginnings at all."^[1]

See also

• 1986 in literature
• Austrian literature

References