Repetition [Hardcover]

Peter Handke (Author), Ralph Manheim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1988

Set in 1960, this novel tells of Filib Kobal's journey from his home in Carinthia to Slovenia on the trail of his missing brother, Gregor. He is armed only with two of Gregor's books: a copy book from agricultural school, and a Slovenian - German dictionary, in which Gregor has marked certain words. The resulting investigation of the laws of language and naming becomes a transformative investigation of himself and the world around him.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Handke's eminence, displayed in a substantial oeuvre of plays, novels and poems, is reaffirmed brilliantly by his latest work. In 1960, Filip Kobal, an alienated, 20-year-old, nascent Austrian writer of Slovenian descent, embarks on a quest to the land of his forebears. Ostensibly a retracing of his much older brother's last steps 20 years before (he was a Slovenian patriot, lover and revivifier of the language and tradition, and a doomed member of the Resistance), the journey is in fact an odyssey of self-discovery for Filip the man and the writer. Handke fashions an extraordinary retelling of the archetypal journey of initiation where the hero must travel beyond the frontiers of the known in order to transform himself into a higher state of being. Using his brother's agricultural student copybook and Slovenian-German dictionary as guides, Filip discovers language's magical ability to expand and transform reality. He attains a transcendent vision in which things and their names are all conjoined and enfolded upon themselves. And with undercurrents of memory of a bloody, oppressive past and consciousness of a sickly political present manifested in its debased, prosaic use of words, Handke reminds us, in crystalline prose, that our speech, our freedom and spiritual wholeness are one.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

$18.95. f Growing through time and passing through space engross young Austrian Filip Kobal. Setting out from Austria in summer 1960, Filip crosses into Yugoslavia, following the path of his dead brother, Gregor. As companions he takes two books: his brother's old notebook and a Slovenian-German dictionary. Through the notebook he regains contact with Gregor by recapturing events from his truncated life. The dictionary explodes language into a palpable present and points Filip toward his true calling as a writer. This novel is not among Handke's best. Composed of "word sequences," it is intended "to be both consistent and imaginative," but while the latter is true, the former, woefully, is not. Amidst the swirling phrases one is apt to ask, "Just what is the point?" The answer, like this novel, is not satisfying. Paul E. Hutchison, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (June 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374249342
• ISBN-13: 978-0374249342
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,823,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars complex study of human journey, June 15, 2000

By 

Karl Ryan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Repetition (Hardcover)

A rich and dense book that examines the very core of what it means to be human. Handke's intricately constructed narrative works on several levels giving the reader much to digest. It's threefold structure is at first difficult to interpret, but on repeated readings one begins to understand the significance of smaller fragmented incidents scattered throughout the text. If possible one should read the original and use the dictionary as a companion, just as the protagonist Filip Kobal does. One of the best books by one of our best contemporary authors. Highly recommended.