There is a good review of the book [The Children of the Dead] (in English)
here.
Interesting review, albeit a short one. I really like the last sentence, for it summarises my feeling about the Austrian author:
[...]whether you agree with Jelinek about the political situation in Austria or not, she certainly makes her point.
sure, unlike Mirabell, I can only speak for her words in translation, in which sadly, especially in her case, with her constant puns (depending on the original language and Germanic culture) and plays with language in general, many things are bound to get lost. But some things remain, and they were enough to have made me appreciate her craft even when (in most cases) failing to align with her thinking; she is the epitome of voicing something strongly, assuredly and ingeniously enough that you can’t help but listen; agreeing or not being irrelevant.
alas, I didn’t take any notes nor did I review Lust back when I read it (earlier this year, in the beginning of corona, making it feel like it was ages ago...), but I remember being quite impressed by it; I can understand what Mirabell said before about her disregard for the novel genre being a most electrifying thing: she’ll not follow the rules of a perfect paragraph, in which in it one should develop one given idea to then follow with the next paragraph, instead amounting in one same bulk of text many different ideas and character presentations, shifting perspectives, having an omniscient narrator intrude and comment on the text, turning from novelistic voice to an essayistic one etc.
then, through these techniques she is able to weave some truly memorable scenes, such as one coming (pun intended) at nearly the end of Lust, being I believe its climax (needn’t repeat myself hehe), in which the protagonist, being rejected by her lover who only used her, being abused by her husband with the said lover watching, is engulfed in this mass of text, in which strange figures appear to mock at her, all of which collaborating to create a sort of textual maelstrom around her, through which we can see her as if from afar, with the focus shifting from her in her most vulnerable state, thus further emphasising her helplessness and loneliness.
then there’s her wittiness, which is another powerful tool for stating her case even while being at times hard to agree with. Take an instance from the prologue of Women as Lovers, in which she ironically paints this deceitfully idyllic scene of a BEAUTIFUL little town with its factory controlling life, presenting the interplay of women and love, all in a seemingly simple, fairytale-like style throwing into relief the (perceived) ugliness in the place; anyway, in it alone there are many eye-popping sentences, but this one, being so succinct, makes me giggle every time: “often these women marry or they are ruined some other way.”.
so yeah, for these reasons I find Jelinek a most exciting writer, one I can definitely see myself reading everything I can find by her for the playfulness and command of her language alone.
