Till Day You Do Part Or A Question of Light

A Monologue
German translation (2008) and French Original (2007)
Suhrkamp | Insel
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Casus Belli), Italy (Quodlibet), Bengali rights (Parampara)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Bulgaria (Black Flamingo)


Till Day You Do Part Or A Question of Light / Bis daß der Tag euch scheidet oder Eine Frage des Lichts
A Monologue
German translation (2008) and French Original (2007)

»Described as an answer to or at least an echo of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape?, Till Day You Do Part Or A Question of Light is a monologue delivered by the ›she‹ in Beckett’s play. This unnamed female similarly recalls other significant women protagonists in Handke’s own work such as The Left-handed Woman. Handke prefaces the monologue in Till Day You Do Part Or a Question of Light with a description of two stone figures. While the male figure...

Read more

»Described as an answer to or at least an echo of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape?, Till Day You Do Part Or A Question of Light is a monologue delivered by the ›she‹ in Beckett’s play. This unnamed female similarly recalls other significant women protagonists in Handke’s own work such as The Left-handed Woman. Handke prefaces the monologue in Till Day You Do Part Or a Question of Light with a description of two stone figures. While the male figure remains ›as dead and gone as anyone can,‹ the female bursts into life, and her monologue gradually focuses on Krapp’s use of pauses and language to dominate the other characters in the Beckett play. Ultimately, however, her complaints and critique of Krapp become a declaration of her love for Krapp or at least an affirmation of their attachment, as the two of them are ultimately bound together, perhaps even inseparable.


Till Day You Do Part Or a Question of Light is Handke at his best, evidencing the great skill, psychological acumen, and vision for which his work has been celebrated.« (book description from the English edition by Seagull)

2009, 51 pages
Service
Cover (Web)Cover (Print)

Persons

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

The Second Sword
Year of Publication: 2020
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2020

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...

Rights sold to:

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 Innocent, Me and the Unknown Woman by the Side of the Road
Year of Publication: 2015
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2015
The time frame, in which the new play by Peter Handke is set, is clearly denoted: it spans over »four seasons«. The place: a country road, a »common country road«? The protagonists: »I«, who is seated by the side of this country road. And who can transform from a dramatic player into an epic narrator.


»I« regards this road as »the last free road in this world, the last...
Essay on the Mushroom Hunter
Year of Publication: 2013
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2013
In 2012, Peter Handke resumed his series of Versuche with his essay Versuch über den Stillen Ort. Just one year later, he brings it to a close, definitively, he claims,...
Rights sold to:

USA (FSG), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Mohorjeva založba/Hermagoras), Greece (Hestia)

Essay on the Quite Place
Year of Publication: 2012
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2012
In his Versuch über den Stillen Ort, Handke describes the uniqueness of tranquil places. Over the course of his life on several different continents, he has come to regard such...
Rights sold to:

USA (FSG), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Gallimard), Italy (Guanda), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons Ostrogi), Serbia (Laguna), Greece (Hestia)

The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
Year of Publication: 2012
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2012
Characters: a nameless woman, a nameless man: a simple couple. They meet in order to talk about love, first loves, and what a man and a woman feel when they are with each other. They talk about how...
Rights sold to:

Spanish world rights (Casus Belli), France (Bruit du Temps), Italy (Quodlibet), Norway (Samlaget), Japan (Ronsosha), Serbia (Laguna), Slovenia (Hermagoras/Mohorjeva založba), Greece (Vakxikon)

The Great Fall
Year of Publication: 2011
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2011
This is the story of a single day in the life of an actor, a flâneur, who is walking through a big city on a warm summer’s day, from the morning until the dead of night, from the...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Rayo Verde), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Kanaan), France (Gallimard), Denmark (Rod & Co.), Norway (Paperback edition: Pelikanen), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi), Czech Republic (Rubato), Bulgaria (Paradox), Serbia (Laguna; audiobook rights: Voxa), Greece (Hestia), Macedonia (Ars Lamina), Georgia (Intelekti)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti)

Storm Still
Year of Publication: 2010
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2010
A panorama that reaches beyond all literary genres while simultaneously transforming them, here prose and drama, the theatrical and the poetical, the historical and the personal are...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Casus Belli), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Arabic world rights (Kalima), France (Bruit du Temps), Italy (Quodlibet), Netherlands (Van Oorschot), Slovenia (Wieser), Serbia (Laguna)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Norway (Samlaget)

The Cuckoos of Velika Hoca
Year of Publication: 2009
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2009
Peter Handke sets out for Velika Hoca, a Serbian enclave in southern Kosovo, on 6 May 2008: »Something was calling me to interview every single person in Serbian Kosovo extensively and in a...
Rights sold to:

France (Différence), Sweden (Karneval), Serbia (Prometej)

The Moravian Night
Year of Publication: 2008
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2008
Place: the Balkans, the Morava, a tributary of the Danube, a riverboat.
Time: one night, from late evening to blue-streaked dawn.
Dramatis ...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Aser-Elkotob), France (Gallimard), Netherlands (Wereldbibliotheek), Serbia (Laguna; audiobook rights: Voxa), Turkey (Sia Kitap), Greece (Koukkida), Georgia (Intelekti)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Garzanti), Finland (Lurra)

Potash
Year of Publication: 2007
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2007

Peter Handke’s last novel Don Juan reported on his experiences with women during a world trip. At the time, Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote: »This is Handke-country, in a way that no...

Rights sold to:

Spanish world rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Gallimard), Italy (Garzanti), Netherlands (Wereldbibliotheek), Denmark (Gyldendal), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi), Turkey (Can)

The Tablas de Daimiel
Year of Publication: 2006
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2006

His relationship with Serbia and Slobodan Miloševic not only brought Handke a lot of criticism, they also led to a lot of undifferentiated defamation. In Paris, one of his plays was removed from...

Rights sold to:

Spanish world rights (Tresmolins), Sweden (Karneval), Serbia (Prometej)

Don Juan
Year of Publication: 2004
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 2004
Peter Handke tells nothing less but »the definitive and the solely true story of Don Juan«


More precisely it is the story told by Don Juan himself, during seven days in a...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (FSG), Spanish world rights (Pocketbook edition: Alianza), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Arabic world rights (Mamdouh Adwan), Russia (AST), Japan (Sanshusha), Czech Republic (Prostor), Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia (Clio), Armenia (Antares)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Galician world rights (Sotelo Blanco), France (Gallimard), Italy (Garzanti), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Bonniers), Finland (Lurra), Korea (Vega Books), Poland (Czytelnik), Bulgaria (Riva), Romania (Paralela 45), Slovenia (Cankarjeva Zalozba), Turkey (Can), Greece (Exandas), Macedonia (Magor)

Summer Postscript to a Winter Journey
Year of Publication: 1996
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1996
Feeling that his previous trip to Serbia and the resulting report needed to be supplemented, Peter Handke set out again in the late spring of 1996. Taking no notes while on the road, he wrote his...
Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1991
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1991
»In his Essay on the Successful Day, for which there is no prescription, Handke invents a picture of tranquility, using a self-portrait by Hogarth as his point of departure to describe a...
Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1990
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1990
»The Essay on the Jukebox is Handke's attempt to understand the significance of the jukebox, a quest which leads him, while on a trip in Spain, into the literature of the jukebox, the...
Rights sold to:

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)

Essay on Tiredness
Year of Publication: 1989
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1989
»In his Essay on Tiredness, Handke transforms an everyday experience – often precipitated by boredom – into a fascinating exploration of the world of slow motion, differentiating degrees of...
Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1989
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1989

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....

Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1987
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1987

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...

Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1986
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1986

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...

Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1986
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1986

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...

Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1981
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1981

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...

Rights sold to:

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)

The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire
Year of Publication: 1980
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1980

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...

Rights sold to:

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 Weight of the World
Year of Publication: 1977
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1977

»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...

Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (FSG), Spanish world rights (Adriana Hidalgo), Arabic world rights (Al Arabi), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Serbia (Futura)

I Am an Inhabitant of the Ivory Tower
Year of Publication: 1972
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1972

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...

Rights sold to:

Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Christian Bourgois), Japan (Daisan Shobo), Poland (Eperons-Ostrogi)

The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Year of Publication: 1971
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1971

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...

Rights sold to:

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
Year of Publication: 1971
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1971

»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...

Rights sold to:

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)

Offending the Audience and Other Spoken Pieces
Year of Publication: 1966
Peter HandkeYear of Publication: 1966

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...

Rights sold to:

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)


DISCOVER

News
»German literature is not conceivable without Peter Handke.« Die Zeit