Análisis de normativas y mecanismos regionales

Elfriede Jelinek has always posed something o f a problem for her hom e country: on the one hand, she has gained enviable international renown (and an array o f literary awards in and outside Austria), especially since the publication o f Die Klavierspielerin in 1983;^* yet, at the same time, this renown has been grafted out o f an assault on an Austria whose existence many would prefer to deny altogether. Once and again, she has fouled her nest with visions o f a society that is at best sm all-minded, conservative and profit m otivated, at worst a direct heir to an ill-buried Fascist past. A w kward subject m atter has always been jrrsU o her satirical mill, and an obstacle to her acceptance on the hom e front. The scandalised response to the prem iere o f her parodie musical farce

Burgtheater in Bonn in 1985, three years after its publication, was ju st the m ost open expression o f a general hostility towards the author Jelinek that has often overridden considerations o f the literary value o f her work.^^ M oreover, above and beyond the question o f her perceived anti-Austrian stance, the specific them atic concerns that energise her texts, the all-pervasive violence, the insistently recurrent patterns o f abuse depicted in relationships between husbands and wives, lovers, parents and children, and so on, lend a polemical force to her writing that invites controversy and affront. Given this, it is not surprising that her work has all too often been the object o f critical attention that has not seen beyond the ‘shock factor’ with which it announces itself. Yet,

E lfriede Jelinek, D ie K la v ie rsp ie le rin (R ein b ek bei Ham burg; R o w o h lt, 1 9 8 6 ). A ll referen ces are to this sec o n d paperback edition.

S ee A lly so n Fiddler, ‘D em y th o lo g izin g the Austrian H eim at: E lfriede Jelinek as N e stb e sc h m u tze r', in

F ro m H ig h P r ie s ts to D e se cr a to r s: C o n te m p o r a ry A u stria n W riters, ed. by M oray M cG o w en and Ricarda S ch m id t (S h effie ld : S h effield A c a d em ic Press, 1993), pp. 2 5 -4 4 . Fiddler argues that Jelin e k ’s d e c isio n to use id en tifiab le figures (the W essely -H o rb ig er actin g fam ily) as a basis for her d ep iction o f actors during the Third R eich , w as w hat led to the p la y ’s b ein g interpreted as a S c h lü sselstü ck , in other w ord s, noth in g m ore than an unprovoked and un tim ely attack on sp ec ific p erson ages. Fiddler ex a m in es the scandal as a w a y o f reflectin g m ore generally upon Jelin ek ’s problem atic relationship w ith her h om e public: sh e p la ces her a lo n g sid e W olfgan g Bauer, T hom as Bernhard and Peter Turrini firm ly in that tradition o f

N estb esch m u tzu n g , y et at the sam e tim e con sid ers the particular quality o f J e lin ek ’s recep tion as on e p o ssib ly m arked by a rather m ore personal rejection o f her p o litic s, gender and ‘bad ta ste ’ (p. 42).

at the same time, this elem ent o f antagonism is central to Jelinek’s m ethodology: the realisation o f the effect, the import, o f the texts depends absolutely on a violation o f readerly expectation, an affront to our sensibility. The way that this strategy is realised will form the focus o f my analysis o f Die Klavierspielerin, a text that seems to me to exemplify the way that Jelinek’s critical assault gathers force.

Interpretations

In contrast to her earlier, more obviously experim ental works, the substantial and nom inally realistic plot and characterisation o f Die Klavierspielerin, lending itself to psychological readings, made it immediately engaging.^® Its provocative vision o f Vienna through a less than presentable lens, coupled with its obviously (and alluringly) autobiographical aspect, focused attention on an author who had clearly realised her influential potential as something o f a revolutionary in a conservative environm ent. The critical world was shocked into recognising Jelinek’s polem ic as no longer to be contained within any fem inist or other restricting categorising fram ework. The tex t’s controversial nature is in part due to its unhesitating engagem ent with taboo subjects, especially its coupling o f a female protagonist with the expression o f m asochistic sexual desire, and its replacement o f the established model o f wom an as exhibitionist with that o f w om an as voyeur. The threefold female gaze o f Jelinek, the author, Erika Kohut, her piano playing protagonist, and the narrator in an econom y o f desire that not only refers to but also directly situates the character in pornographic environm ents is consistent with Jelinek’s self-professed desire to create a pornography for wom en. Yet the question as to the status o f apparently pornographic m oments in the text is fundam ental, inasmuch as pornography traditionally relies on an essentially unreflexive response for

The first tw o published n ovels, w ir s in d lo c k v o g e l b a b y ! (R einbek bei Ham burg: R o w o h lt, 1970) and

M ich ael. E in J u g e n d b u ch f u r d ie In fa n tilg e se llsc h a ft (R ein b ek bei Hamburg: R o w o h lt, 1 972), e sc h e w con ven tion al punctuation and plot d ev elo p m en t in favour o f a non -sequ en tial ep iso d ic structure, w orked out o f referen ces to contem porary culture. D ie L ie b h a b erin n en (R ein b ek bei Ham burg: R o w o h lt, 1975) is by com p arison a realist n ovel, although it rem ains sty listica lly m ore proxim ate to th ese earlier w orks.

its effect. Here, all expression o f desire is qualified in some way: the cam era lens o f the narrative is smeared with the detritus o f the city. Jelinek’s Vienna is an inhumane place, driven by economics and not in the least redeemed by its weighty m usical reputation. The exploration o f themes o f subservience and dominance, m asochism , self-harm ing driven to their pathological limits in a character such as Erika, who is absolutely a product o f her bourgeois environment, means that the city and the country are m ore than a coincidental backdrop to the events o f the text. The story is crucially set in Vienna, and relies on the specific atm osphere o f the city for its unfolding. The m ost imm ediate im pression that the text gives is o f a seemingly rem orseless, undifferentiated attack on everything in its field o f vision. No-one and nothing is spared: the pitiful Erika, the ghastly Kohut m other and the arrogant W alter Klem m er are a trio o f unim aginable horror, the m usic aficionados o f Vienna are as sordid in their own way as the shady characters that people the underworld o f the city, and the unrem itting unpleasantness o f each and every character we encounter on the street leaves us longing for some tiny respite. N ot surprisingly, initial reviews o f Die Klavierspielerin were m ixed but never indifferent: one is given a remarkably clear sense o f the critics searching for words sufficiently visceral to articulate their response. For Benjamin Heinrichs, bowled over by the force o f Jelinek’s writing, ‘[d]as Buch ist auch eine Leserfolter; irgendwann wird jed e r es wegwerfen wollen, einen Hah bekomm en a u f den HaB, so glanzvoll der auch form uliert sein mag, auf die unerschopfliche m isanthropische Beredsam keit der A utorin.’^' Reinhard Beuth goes further: ‘die Jelinek schreibt lust-los, teilnahm slos. Sie gefallt sich als M enschenverachterin. Sie haBt Musik, sie haBt Wien, sie haBt M enschen.

B enjam in H einrich s, ‘M iitterdam m erung: Frauen schreiben über die M utter-T ochter B e z ie h u n g ’, D ie Z eit, 15 July 1983, pp. 2 9 -3 0 (p. 30).

U nd sie haBt w o h l vo r allem sich selbst. D as m ach t d ie J e lin e k -L e k tü re so verdrieB lich.

S ie in o c h te g a n z ein fach ihre L e se r zum K o tzen bringen.'^^

W ith a te x t that, in its to tality , in v ites such resp o n se, it is an o n e ro u s ta sk to find a

c ritic a l a p p ro a c h th at do es not ‘d o m e s tic a te ’ the Je lin e k ia n v isio n in th e p ro c e ss o f

a n a ly s is itself. 71-»e fc x f in k ta L f > •> cm cf

len d s its e lf to d iv e rse read in g s, each o f w h ich can d raw on rich se a m s o f the

te x t fo r th e ir leg itim atio n . A fem in ist re a d in g can fo c u s on the g e n d e re d stru c tu re s o f

a b u se th a t th e te x t p o rtray s, ta k in g its lead from J e lin e k ’s a n a ly sis o f the m a le /fe m a le

re la tio n sh ip a s one th at is n e c e ssa rily exploitative.^^ A p sy c h o a n a ly tic re a d in g can be

fo u n d e d in th e ab se n t fath er an d the m o th e r/d a u g h te r d y ad . A M a rx ist a c c o u n t o f the

te x t can lo o k to its d e p ictio n o f the e c o n o m ic o n e -u p m a n sh ip th a t c o m m o d ifie s

e v e ry th in g , e v en m usic, and h o ld s the c h a ra c ters in a c a p ita list vice o f m e c h a n istic

su p p ly and d e m a n d . But n o n e o f th ese re a d in g s is on its o w n w h o lly sa tisfa c to ry , not

least b e c a u se the d isco u rses in te rse c t w ith one a n o th e r an d m ilita te a g a in st an y sin g le

c ritic a l p e rsp e c tiv e . In th is resp ect, w h ilst it is u n d o u b te d ly o f use, in d eed n e c e ssa ry , to

fo c u s on in d iv id u al asp ects o f the tex t like the m o th e r-d a u g h te r re la tio n sh ip , m o d e ls o f

sa d o m a s o c h is m , o r the M arx ist a c c o u n t o f p o w er th a t in fo rm s the n a rra tiv e , it is also

im p e ra tiv e to c o n sid e r the im p lic a tio n s o f how th ese e le m e n ts o f th e te x t are bound

to g e th e r. M a n y stu d ies o f the tex t h av e ten d ed to sh y aw a y from d e a lin g w ith its

c o m p le x itie s w ith th e m a tic a lly b ased in te rp re ta tio n s th a t do not, to m y m in d , do ju s tic e

to th e p o ly v a le n t stru ctu ral ch a lle n g e o ffe re d by th e n a rra tiv e voice.

Reinhard Beuth, “TretTsicher im G iftspritzen’, D ie Welt, 21 M ay 1983, p. 5. Other review titles g iv e a g o o d idea o f their content: Lothar Baier, ‘A bgerichtet, sich selbst zu zerstoren’ , S ü ddeu tsch e Z eitim g , 16 July 1983, p. 110; Lottemi Doorm ann, 'Folter einer M utterliebe’, D eu tsch e V olkszeitu ng, 9 June 1983, p. 14; N orbert Schachtsiek-Freitag, ‘Perv'ersionen der L ieb e’, F ra n k fu rter R undschau, 2 July 1983, p. 4. For an in-depth an a ly sis o f critical response to D ie K la vie rsp ie le rin , se e A nja M eyer, E lfried e Jelin ek in d e r G e sc h le c h te rp r ess e : ‘D ie K la v ie rsp ie le rin ’ un d ‘Lust ' im p rin tm ed ia len D isk u rs (H ild esh eim N e w York: O lm s-W eid m an n , 1994).

” S ee Josef-1 lerm ann Sauter, ‘Interview mit Elfriede Jelinek', W eim arer B eitra g e , 27 ( 1981 ), 109-17: ‘ [w ]ie man weiR, gibt es keinen M ann, der so arm, ausgebeutet und kaputt ist, daR er nicht noch jem anden hatte, der noch armer dran ist, nam lich sein e Frau.’ (p. 109)

For example, Annegret M ahler-Bungers introduces her discussion o f the text with the assertion that ‘was den Inhalt betrifft, ist dieses Buch eine ziem lich deutliche, aus- gesprochene Krankengeschichte, an der sich die Psychogenese und Bedeutung des M asochism us hervorragend studieren lassen’, and her article centres accordingly on the psychoanalytical significance o f the absent father.^"^ M arlies Janz, taking issue with M ahler-Bungers in her chapter on Die Klavierspielerin, is also indebted to psychoanalytical theories o f sexuality, and her radically different interpretation o f the text is located in the question o f Jelinek’s narrative m ethodology and stylistic presentation o f characters: ‘[s]o gewiss M ahler-Bungers recht hat m it der These, dafl Die Klavierspielerin im Grunde ein Roman ist über die A bsenz des Vaters und die dam it verbundene Unfahigkeit der Tochter, ihr psychisches Geschlecht als ‘F rau’ zu entw ickeln [...], verbietet sich der Roman doch eben die Trauer um den verlorenen Vater, und genau das ware vielleicht der Ansatzpunkt für ein adaquate psychoanalytische Interpretation Several critics approach the text by way o f an exploration o f the particular dynamics o f the m other-daughter relationship. Barbara Kosta, for example, understands Erika through her ‘Trennungsversuche’, that is, her paradigm atic and unrealised desire to separate from the oral m other and to widen the field o f experience.^^ Allyson Fiddler discusses this dyad too: she suggests that it could be seen to represent a classically psychoanalytic psychotic symbiotism, although her analysis interrogates this position as well, questioning w hether it is really possible to read the text as a case study, given that Erika and her m other function textually as

A n n egret M ahler-B un gers, ‘D er Trauer a u f der Spur: zu E lfried e Jellneks D ie K la v ie r s p ie le r in ', F r e ib u r g e r lite ra tu rp s y c h o lo g isc h e G e sp r a ch e , VII: M a so ch ism u s in d e r L ite ra tu r, ed. by Johannes C rem eriu s and others (W ürzburg: K on igsh au sen & N eu m an n , 198 8 ), 80-95 (p. 81).

M arlies Janz, E lfried e J elin ek (Stuttgart: M etzler, 1995), p. 8 6 . 1 shall return at so m e len gth to th ese read in gs in part 2 o f this chapter.

Barbara K osta, ‘Muttertrauma: anerzogener M asoch ism u s. Waltraud A n n a M itgu tseh , D ie Z ü ch tig u n g

und E lfried e Jelinek, D ie K la v ie r s p ie le r in ', in M a tte r - T o ch ter - F rau en : W e ib lic h k e itsb ild er in d e r L ite ra tu r, ed. by H elg a Kraft and E lk e L ieb s (Stuttgart: M etzler, 1993), pp. 2 4 3 -6 5 .

types.^^ R udolf Burger sees in the text an articulation o f the dissolution o f the individual, and following this thesis, doubts that it is meaningful at all to talk o f