The Afternoon of a Writer [Hardcover]

Peter Handke (Author), Ralph Manheim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1989

A visit to the city's outskirts, a stolen newspaper, narrow alleyways, and an open field are the elements of a writer's afternoon. As the nameless writer confronts his fears, he goes on with his life in one of the most original and provocative works from a contemporary writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This deceptively simple, yet highly challenging and original novella reaffirms Handke's preeminence on the international literary scene. One December afternoon in an unidentified German city, the nameless narrator, a writer, takes a walk and reflects on the perilous presumption of his vocation and his terror at the tenuousness of his contact with inspiration. Each word is a lifeline, conjuring up the world and magically reformulating it. But at the same time, the writer and his text strain at the limits of language and understanding. Believing that the writer is dispossessed in 20th-century culture, the narrator is thrown back upon himself to confront the nullity of his discourse; his youthful faith in his calling has collapsed into disenchantment and fear that by withdrawing from society to write, he has de-legitimized his voice. Yet the narrator concludes with the affirmation to "continue to work the most ephemeral of materials, my breath," without aid or concealment of literature's tired props, thus reassuring Handke's admirers that the author will continue to tax and thrill them with his Mallarmean opacities.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The day is rich for the anonymous writer who is the protagonist of this book. In the morning he grapples with the Beckettian dilemma, giving shape to nothing with the tissue of delicate language, always aware that the last word may be the end of his ability to express. A page, maybe two, and then comes the giddy reward of an afternoon's walk through the city. Observation and intuition are this writer's tools as he recharges himself with the experience of life. The simplicity of snow and flowers gives way to the complexity of the "Gin Mill" crowd and a confrontation with the Translator. Handke is a strikingly talented Austrian writer who, in this novel, focuses on the process of writing. This pithy text is equally important for writers and readers since its eminently accessible investigation of creativity leads both toward a realization of their common need for experience. While other writers have exhaustingly failed to make clear the intricacies of this delicate creative process, Handke succeeds with stylish simplicity.
- Paul E. Hutchison, Fishermans Paradise, Bellefonte, Pa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 86 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (January 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374102074
• ISBN-13: 978-0374102074
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,626,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great little Handke!, February 25, 2006

By 

Uncle Borges (Via Lungomare 6) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afternoon of a Writer (Paperback)

Great little prose musings by Handke. One of his most accesible books. Needles to praise that hector among the translators, the one and only Ralph Manheim (of the L.F.Céline's fame,among others). I will just quote one thought from this brilliant Austrian maverick writer: "What he had written that day was irrelevant and meaningless; he should have never written it, for to write was criminal; to produce a work of art, a book, was presumption, more damnable than any other sin."