Biography
Elfriede Jelinek (born 1946 in Mürzzuschlag, Austria) is one of the most radical voices in contemporary German-language literature. She studied music, theatre, and art history in Vienna and began publishing in the late 1960s. Jelinek's novels Die Liebhaberinnen, Die Klavierspielerin (1983, filmed by Michael Haneke in 2001), and Lust systematically expose the violence embedded in patriarchal language and Austrian culture. Her plays, including Burgtheater, Sportstück, Wolken.Heim, Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel), Die Schutzbefohlenen, and Am Königsweg, break radically with conventional dramatic form and deploy language as its own protagonist. Jelinek received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004. She is a vehement critic of Austrian political culture, particularly the far-right FPÖ; her stance has been controversial within Austria while earning her international recognition as one of the most significant living writers.
On Stagelog
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