Wow, hats off to the Nobel committee for awarding the Literature Prize to Elfriede Jelinek. This has unleashed a firestorm of controversy in Europe. In the US the best coverage thus far has come in the New York Times. Just the title of Alan Riding’s article says it all: Austrian Writer of Sex,Violence and Politics Wins Nobel. But most of the US reports have labeled Jelinek a “feminist writer. The coverage in the Chicago Tribune is typical:
In its citation, the academy praised Jelinek’s works for illustrating the inability of women to “fully come to life in a world where they are painted over with stereotypical images.”
But Ina Hartweg, writing in todays Frankfurter Rundschau, ridicules the idea that Jelinek’s works are feminist. Her harsh critique of the world encompasses both men and women:
Oft hieß es, Elfriede Jelinek sei eine feministische Schriftstellerin. Nichts ist falscher. Keineswegs werden ausschließlich die Männer in ihrem Werk in den Sog einer Ästhetik der Hässlichkeit gezogen, sondern auch die Frauen; Liebhaberinnen, Mütter und Töchter gleichermaßen.
The Tageszeitung reports on Jelinek’s long-running battle with the right-wing extremist party in Austria – the FPÖ – and its leader Jörg Haider. She nearly left Austria in 1999 when Haider achieved 27% of the votes and a seat in parliament. Jelinek then refused to allow her plays to be performed in Austria until Haider’s party was forced out in 2002.
Die Welt has a round-up of the “mixed reactions” in German literary circles to Jelinek’s prize. The ‘Pope’ of German literary criticism – Marcel Reich-Ranicki – praises Jelinek for “her courage and radicalness”. But fellow novelist Martin Mosebach reacted “with horror” to the announcement. “Elfriede Jelinek is the world’s most stupid person”.
Asutrians also reacted with a mixture of pride and resentment to the prize announcement. Der Standard notes that for decades Jelinek has been reviled in Austria “for fouling her own nest” (Nestbeschmützerin). In her native country she has been called everything from ‘Communist’ to ‘Pornographer’ (actually she was a member of the Austrian Communist Party for a time).
Keine andere Autorin ist – jedenfalls bis gestern – in der heimischen Öffentlichkeit so umstritten wie Elfriede Jelinek. Sie, die in ihren Texten immer neu die österreichische Gesellschaft und Mentalität kritisch befragt, ist in Österreich eine Reizfigur ersten Ranges.
“Do you like Elfriede?” asks WienWeb And then they note that she is now on the same level as Hemingway, Grass, and Samuel Beckett. “The whole world bows down before Elfriede and pats Austria on the shoulder.”
A good place to start getting to know Jelinek is by visiting her home page. She must be the first Nobel lliterary prize winner with her own private Web site.
LATE NEWS: True to form, Jörg Haider refused to congratulate Jelinek on her achievement, saying ” I don’t send flowers to communists.”
