Martin Chalmers Livres

Although in the second half of the 20th century a large number of exceptional writers emerged from the small Austrian Republic, Austrian writers have felt themselves excluded from literature's mainstream. This collection provides an opportunity to sample the rich variety of post-war Austrian writing. Contributors include Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, Ingeborg Bachman, Erich Fried and Lilian Faschinger. Martin Chalmers lives in London where he works as a German translator. The authors he has translated include Victor Klemperer, Robert Walser and Hubert Fichte.

Cleverly crafted, the collection features short stories that blend storytelling with literary documentation. Each piece, only a few pages long, explores diverse themes, from the virtues of the Devil to the complexities of love and power. Kluge's mastery of compression allows him to create vivid worlds in just a paragraph, akin to Kafka and Kawabata. The stories are organized into five chapters, addressing topics such as the cosmos and the conflict between knowledge and feelings, with precise details that provoke thought and reflection.

Peter Handke, a prominent figure in Austrian literature, has crafted a body of work influenced by significant historical events. However, the influence of his mother, whose life encompassed the Weimar Republic, both world wars, and the postwar era, is even more profound. In his latest work, Handke revisits his birthplace in Carinthia, Austria, where the living and the dead of a family converse on the Jaunfeld plain, central to Austria's Slovenian community. Presented as a series of monologues, this narrative captures the Slovene minority's struggle against Nazism alongside their deep connection to the land. It reflects on Handke's own roots, intertwining themes from his previous writings and revisiting familiar characters. The text navigates the complexities of conflict and peace, war and prewar, as well as the changing seasons. The fate of an orchard symbolizes the destiny of a people. Readers will find numerous delights in Handke's prose, characterized by subtlety and delicacy, as it intricately weaves together layers of meaning. This work exemplifies the potential direction of the French New Novel, had it evolved further.