Slow Homecoming (German: Langsame Heimkehr) is a 1979 collection of three novellas by the Austrian writer Peter Handke.
| Author | Peter Handke |
|---|---|
| Original title | Langsame Heimkehr |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | Suhrkamp Verlag |
Publication date | 1979 |
| Publication place | Germany |
Published in English | 1 June 1985 |
| Pages | 199 |
| ISBN | 3518030213 |
Plot
edit"The Long Way Around" is about a European scientist who relocates from Alaska to California, which disrupts his sense of space.
"The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire" is about a trip to Paul Cézanne's Provence in search of renewed vitality.
"Child Story" is about a father who feels isolated but loves his young daughter.
Reception
editThe book has been named as a turning point in Handke's writing, when he became increasingly subjective and his expression became more solemn, which led to some negative reactions when the book first was published.[1] Cecile Cazort Zorach of Monatshefte called it a "difficult and irritating book", more complex than Handke's earlier portrayal of the United States in Short Letter, Long Farewell (1972). Cazort Zorach wrote that it has traits of Bildungsroman along with "brief excursions into surrealistic metamorphoses, grotesque humor, veiled literary allusions, ponderous (but also parodistic) Heideggerian prose, and, finally, a shift from third-person narration to an 'ich'," the latter revealing that the book is as much about its narrator as its characters.[2] Publishers Weekly wrote that the book is powerful in its reflections but suffers from its lack of storytelling and characterisation.[3]
References
edit- ^ Caviola, Hugo (1990). ""Ding-Bild-Schrift": Peter Handke's Slow Homecoming to a "Chinese" Austria". Modern Fiction Studies. 36 (3): 381–394. JSTOR 26282969.
- ^ Cazort Zorach, Cecile (1985). "The Artist as Joker in Peter Handke's "Langsame Heimkehr"". Monatshefte. 77 (2): 181. JSTOR 30161571.
- ^ "Slow Homecoming". Publishers Weekly. 3 June 1988. Retrieved 5 November 2023.