The Afternoon of a Writer

Handke, Peter; Manheim, Ralph, (Transl.)

ISBN 10: 041362840X / ISBN 13: 9780413628404

Published by Methuen & Co Ltd, London (edition ), 1989

About this Item

With dust jacket. The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way.

Seller Inventory # 041362840X-7-1-29

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Afternoon of a Writer
• Publisher: Methuen & Co Ltd, London (edition )
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 041362840X
• ISBN 13: 9780413628404
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fair
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

UK first edition hard cover, with unclipped dust jacket, both in very good condition. From the library of W.L. Webb, the Guardian's literary editor for many years. His review notes for this book are written across the Methuen's publicity flyer, and laid in. General shelf and handling wear, including light creasing to DJ edges and corners, minor tanning to spine and pageblock head. Board corners slightly bumped. Within, pages are tightly bound, and content is unmarked. CN

From Publishers Weekly

This deceptively simple, yet highly challenging and original novella reaffirms Handke's preeminence on the international literary scene. One December afternoon in an unidentified German city, the nameless narrator, a writer, takes a walk and reflects on the perilous presumption of his vocation and his terror at the tenuousness of his contact with inspiration. Each word is a lifeline, conjuring up the world and magically reformulating it. But at the same time, the writer and his text strain at the limits of language and understanding. Believing that the writer is dispossessed in 20th-century culture, the narrator is thrown back upon himself to confront the nullity of his discourse; his youthful faith in his calling has collapsed into disenchantment and fear that by withdrawing from society to write, he has de-legitimized his voice. Yet the narrator concludes with the affirmation to "continue to work the most ephemeral of materials, my breath," without aid or concealment of literature's tired props, thus reassuring Handke's admirers that the author will continue to tax and thrill them with his Mallarmean opacities.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.