In their letters that stretched a period of over 35 years, Peter Handke and Siegfried Unseld discussed what was paramount to them both: literature.
Guided by literature...
»I am happy to announce that after reading your manuscript closely, we have decided to pub-lish your work at Suhrkamp Verlag.« This letter in August 1965 was the start of a correspon-dence consisting of nearly 600 letters in which Peter Handke finally congratulated the pub-lisher on his 75th birthday.
In their letters that stretched a period of over 35 years, Peter Handke and Siegfried Unseld discussed what was paramount to them both: literature.
Guided by literature itself, this correspondence opens up entirely new perspectives on the conditions of writing and publishing books, and is marked by the intellectual biography of both correspondents, their unremitting work on new forms of expression and their concomitant material, geographical, political and personal circumstances. Conflicts between the two men were inevitable – as were their resolutions. For both Peter Handke and Siegfried Unseld, literature alone creates and created the opportunity of a free life in which phases of happiness can prevail.
»The work done by Katharina Pektor and Raimund Fellinger deserves and begets respect and recognition. This correspondence is a very instructive, well-rounded document and with the exemplary edition it is more than a mere reprint of the letters. It is a testimony to the times, an epochal drama, the genre painting of a company, the study of two great personalities and a literary study.« Lothar Struck, Glanz & Elend
»The work done by Katharina Pektor and Raimund Fellinger deserves and begets respect and recognition. This correspondence is a very instructive, well-rounded document and with the exemplary edition it is more than a mere reprint of the letters. It is a testimony to the times, an epochal drama, the genre painting of a company, the study of two great personalities and a literary study.« Lothar Struck, Glanz & Elend
Persons
Peter Handke
Peter Handke, born in 1942 in Griffen, Austria, lives near Paris. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages. In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Peter Handke, born in 1942 in Griffen, Austria, lives near Paris. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages. In 2019, he was...
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Snows of Yesteryear, Snows of Tomorrow
France (Gallimard), Italy (Medhelan), Sweden (Faethon), Bulgaria (Black Flamingo), Turkey (Everest), Greece (Vakxikon)
One Hundred Letters
Korea (Marco Polo Press)
The Ballad of the Last Guest
Gregor returns home from another continent. The landscape, formerly characterised by its many villages, has become an urban agglomeration, both familiar and foreign at the same time. His family...
English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights and Catalan (Alianza), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Sweden (Faethon), Turkey (Sia Kitap), Greece (Hestia)
Zwiegespräch
Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Alianza), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Sweden (Faethon), Iran (Farhange Javid Publishing)
My Day in the Other Country
His surroundings see him as a man possessed, »possessed not just by one, but by several, many, even countless demons«. During the day, he, a fruit grower by profession, walks through the village....
English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Alianza), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Pelikanen), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Beletrina), Greece (Kritiki)
Travel Reports
Ten days after Siegfried Unseld took over as publisher of Suhrkamp Verlag on April 1, 1959, he travels to East Berlin to visit Brecht’s widow Helene Weigel. Once returned, he dictates the first of...
Greece (Potamos)
Zdeněk Adamec
»An extensive scene«, a public place, »definitely not a free space«; possibly in the Spanish province of Avila or in Humpolec in Bohemia, now or at another time. A narrator who is one of...
The Second Sword
Returning to the area southwest of Paris after years of being on the road, three days later the hero was forced to set out again. In contrast to previous explorations of the world, this time he...
English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Chinese complex rights (Ecus), Russia (Eksmo), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relógio D’Água), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Netherlands (Wereldbibliotheek), Denmark (Batzer), Norway (Pelikanen), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi), Romania (ART), Serbia (Laguna), Greece (Hestia), Armenia (Antares)
The Fruit Thief or A simple Trip into the Interior
The Fruit Thief is nothing less than the book of the world: within it everything is possible, in both a positive as well as a negative sense. And reading it means: to have new experiences...
English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Chinese complex rights (Ecus), Russia (Eksmo), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Kalima), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Sweden (Bonniers), Finland (Lurra), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Serbia (Laguna), Turkey (Ayrinti), Greece (Gutenberg)
Days and Works
Italy (Guanda)
The Innocent, Me and the Unknown Woman by the Side of the Road
»I« regards this road as »the last free road in this world, the last...
The Correspondence
France (Macula)
Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Complices)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Der Hörverlag)
Summer Postscript to a Winter Journey
Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Italy (Guanda), Sweden (Karneval), Norway (Pelikanen), Korea (Jongmunhwasa), Japan (Hosei UP), Serbia (Prometej)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: France (Gallimard)
Essay on the Successful Day
USA (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Jaromir Hladik Press), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Czech Republic (Prostor), Romania (ART), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Wieser), Greece (Hestia)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti)
Essay on the Jukebox
USA (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Jaromir Hladik Press), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Czech Republic (Prostor), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Wieser), Greece (Hestia)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti)
Once Again for Thucydides
»Once Again for Thucydides is a collection of seventeen ›micro-epics‹ written by Peter Handke on trips around the world, from the Balkans to the Pyrenees, from Salzburg to the sea...
English world rights (New Directions), Spanish world rights (Tresmolins), France (Christian Bourgois), Slovenia (Hiša poezije), Serbia (Prometej)
Domestic rights sales: German paperback edition (Reclam – published, rights reverted)
Essay on Tiredness
USA (FSG), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Jaromir Hladik Press), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Czech Republic (Prostor), Romania (ART), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Wieser), Greece (Hestia), Farsi (Roozbahan Publication)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti)
The Afternoon of a Writer
Peter Handke’s story published in 1987 is set on an afternoon in December. Work at the desk is finished for the day, it won’t be continued until the following morning: an in-between-time, then....
USA & Canada (FSG), Spanish world rights (Trade edition: Alfaguara), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Denmark (Batzer), Korea (Open Books), Japan (Hosei UP), Turkey (Alfa), Greece (Hestia)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu)
Absence
The four protagonists, the old man, the woman, the soldier and the gambler, move through a kind of phantastical topography across continents and time. They have broken free of daily...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), France (Gallimard), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (Rocco), Italy (Garzanti), Netherlands (de Fontein), Sweden (Bonniers), Finland (Otava), Romania (Excelsior), Greece (Dorikis)
Ode to Permanence
Not an essay, not a scene, not a story – an ode to permanence, as though it were a living being, something physical, as though one could talk to it. The ode as an offering, a courtship, as...
Spanish world rights (Trade edition: Alfaguara), Catalan rights (Eumo), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Portuguese rights (Assirio & Alvim), France (Gallimard), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Greece (Vakxikon)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Serbia (Interpress), Slovenia (Drava)
Repetition
Peter Handke’s epic work, in which the muses are called upon not in the beginning but at the end, is both story and exploration of the story, its genesis and importance at the same...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin UK), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Finland (Otava), Korea (Jongmunhwasa), Japan (Hosei UP), Vietnam (FORMApubli), Serbia (Prometej), Turkey (Jaguar)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (Rocco), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Sweden (Bonniers), Hungary (Magvetö), Slovenia (Wieser)
Walk About the Village
A conflict develops between siblings Gregor, Hans and Sophie about their parents‘ hose. As the eldest son, Gregor has inherited the house and the piece of land after the...
UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Eksmo), France (Gallimard), Italy (Quodlibet), Serbia (Laguna)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA & Canada (Ariadne Press), Italy (Garzanti), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura)
Child Story
In Child Story Peter Handke depicts the first ten years in the life of a child and the story of the corresponding adult. Far from any sort of belittlement but also free of any pedagogical...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Eksmo), Arabic world rights (Kalima), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Iceland (Ugla), Korea (Minumsa), Serbia (Laguna), Turkey (Metis), Greece (Koukkida), Mongolia (Monsudar)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Italy (Garzanti), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Japan (Dogakusha), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura), Hungary (Magvetö), Romania (ART)
The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire
The story The Long Way Around ends when the airplane begins its decent onto the continent. The first sentence of The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire is: »Having returned...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Eksmo), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Korea (Art Books), Serbia (Laguna)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura)
The Long Way Around
For many years, Valentin Sorger was far away from everything that could be subsumised under the terms »home« or »family«. In his zest for being, conscious of his strength, he had given up...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Trade edition: Cuenco de Plata; Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Eksmo), Arabic world rights (Al Arabi), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Koppernik), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Serbia (Laguna), Albania (Aleph), Armenia (Antares)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura)
The Weight of the World
»A combination of professional notebook and personal diary that records – both in short, informal jottings and through more formal, extended meditations – the details of Handke's daily life in...
USA & Canada (FSG), Spanish world rights (Adriana Hidalgo), Arabic world rights (Al Arabi), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Serbia (Futura)
The Left-Handed Woman
One evening, when Marianne and her husband, Bruno, are dining out together to celebrate his return from a business trip, Marianne listens to him speak and realizes suddenly yet finally that Bruno...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin UK), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Chinese complex rights (Ecus), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Dar al Adab), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Vietnam (Domino), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura), Romania (ART), Serbia (Laguna), Albania (Aleph)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Asturian rights (Trabe), Chinese complex rights (W&K), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Gyldendal), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Japan (Dogakusha), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (ASA 200), Hungary (Europa), Turkey (Kirmizi Yayinlari), Greece (Melani), Ukraine (Junivers), Israel (Schocken)
A Moment of True Feeling
»At the beginning of Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke's novel A Moment of True Feeling, Gregor Keuschnig awakens from a nightmare in which he has committed murder, and announces,...
USA & Canada (FSG), Spanish world rights (Trade edition: Alfaguara), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Gallimard), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Sweden (Bonniers), Korea (E-Sang), Turkey (SIA Kitap)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Odeon), Hungary (Europa), Greece (Kastaniotis), Israel (Schocken)
Short Letter, Long Farewell
In the story Short Letter, Long Farewell a young Austrian travels across the USA, fleeing while at the same time seeking his wife Judith. He meets Claire, an old flame; participates in...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Methuen), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza); Latin America (Trade edition: Edhasa), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), Arabic world rights (Al-Kamel), France (Gallimard), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Iceland (Ugla), Korea (Munhakdongne), Japan (Hosei UP), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi), Slovakia (Tatran), Romania (ART), Lithuania (Alma Littera), Serbia (Laguna), Turkey (SIA Kitap), Greece (Agra), Macedonia (Ars Lamina), Albania (Aleph Klub), Georgia (Intelekti), Armenia (Antares)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Feltrinelli), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Gyldendal), Czech Republic (Odeon), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura), Slovenia (Drava)
I Am an Inhabitant of the Ivory Tower
Both the title of this volume as well as the content of the eponymous essay are an ironic provocation of that literature that likes to call itself a realist one. By applying the verdict of this...
Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Christian Bourgois), Japan (Daisan Shobo), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi)
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick is a true modern classic that ›portrays the […] breakdown of a murderer in ways that recall Camus's The Stranger‹ (The New York...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin UK), Spanish world rights (Trade edition: Alfaguara; Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Basque rights (Elkar), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Chinese complex rights (Ecus), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Al Kamel), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Iceland (Ugla), Korea (Minumsa), Japan (Sanshusha), Poland (Officyna), Romania (ART), Estonia (Tänapäev), Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia (Laguna), Turkey (Ayrinti), Greece (Gutenberg), Georgia (Intelekti), Armenia (Antares)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Czech Republic (Rubato), Hungary (Helikon), Bulgaria (Black Flamingo), Israel (Hakibbutz Hameuchad)
The Ride Across Lake Constance
»The […] play The Ride Across Lake Constance, deals directly with one of Handke's favorite themes: the realities of theater itself, independent of the offstage world, and the way language...
USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Bloomsbury), France (L’Arche), Italy (Quodlibet), Korea (io-edition)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spain (Institut del Teatre), Netherlands (Bruna), Poland (Ksiegarnia Academicka)
The Innerworld of the Outerworld of the Innerworld
What the texts of this volume share is that they use a grammatical model and realise this model in sentences formulated according to the model. Each of the sentences is an example, a play with...
Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Christian Bourgois), Serbia (Laguna; audiobook rights: Voxa), Greece (Vakxikon)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA & Canada (Seabury Press), Italy (Feltrinelli)
Offending the Audience and Other Spoken Pieces
These three pieces without a plot, without a scenenery, and without props are spoken pieces that, built around the sound elements of beat music, make language itself its content, they are attempts...
Publikumsbeschimpfung [Offending the Audience]: USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Bloomsbury), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Symposium), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Perspectiva), France (L’Arche), Italy (Quodlibet), Finland (Lurra), Korea (Minumsa), Serbia (Laguna), Greece (Vakxikon)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Catalan rights (Institut del Teatre), Netherlands (Bruna), Czech Republic (Artur), Israel (Or Am)
Selbstbezichtigung [Self-Accusation]: USA & Canada (FSG), UK & Commonwealth (Bloomsbury), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (L’Arche), Italy (Quodlibet)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Catalan rights (Institut del Teatre), Netherlands (Bruna)
Weissagung [Divination]: Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (L’Arche), Italy (Quodlibet)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Catalan rights (Institut del Teatre), Netherlands (Bruna)
The Hornets
Spanish world rights (Nordica), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Netherlands (Arbeiderspers)