3.0
Absence
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3.0
Ashwin Glittus
Created almost 3 years agoShare
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“Definition. An anchor point to some, an albatross to some. What does it exactly mean to define something? Is it the mere arrangement of words to make the otherwise implausible sound plausible? If plausibility relied solely on definition, then, wouldn't life itself seem plausible for the most part? Since almost everything under the sun has a definition lurking by somewhere?
Peter Handke in his 1987 novella ABSENCE wrestles with this very quandary. He does so in a manner as linguistically playful as one has come to expect from Handke. Here, he muses on definition by deliberately removing it. Yes the "absence" in the title says everything about the novel by saying absolutely nothing. Handke absolves himself from the clutches of definition and gives us a novella that is, just like most of Handke's work, more about outlines than the interior shading.
The novella starts with light falling on something. That's the essence of the novella encapsulated as succinctly as possible. Handke shines light on something, but what that "something" exactly is, is something that is left ambiguous while being present through. Unambiguous ambiguity is something Handke probably is aiming for with his prose.
The book then becomes a travelogue. We follow someone, sometimes he is a soldier, sometimes a wayfarer, sometimes an exhibit in a sanatorium, sometimes.... absolutely nothing..... especially when the first chapter ends and this certain someone lands up on a train station platform and boards a train heading..... somewhere.
This one person then becomes four people, an old man, a woman, a soldier and a gambler. But, Handke gives these four people a singular voice, enmeshing them into a singular being while progressively stripping them of flesh and blood.
These four people then leave the train and start walking somewhere. According to the blurb and hints by Handke in the prose itself, this "somewhere" could be anywhere in Europe. Where are they travelling and why, isn't something that is answered by Handke and that is the point of the novella.
Not everyone is looking for an answer, there are people who want to liberate themselves from questions and quandaries. Some would rather prefer not embarking on a certain path than being burdened by the notion of destination. These four are probably a group of such people.
Rather than trying to make sense of everything and everyone around us, Handke makes us follow people who are enroute to giving up on the very notion of a resolution. Handke says a lot through his text but says a lot more in its absence.”
Chloe
Created about 3 years agoShare
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About Peter Handke
was born in Griffen, Austria, in 1942. A novelist, playwright, and translator, he is the author of such acclaimed works as
,
,
, and
. The recipient of multiple literary awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and the International Ibsen Award, Handke is also a filmmaker. He wrote and directed adaptations of his novels
and
, and co-wrote the screenplays for Wim Wenders'
and
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019.
Other books by Peter Handke
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