Embodying achievement : Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, and authorship as a competitive sport

Braun, Rebecca (2014) Embodying achievement : Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, and authorship as a competitive sport. Austrian Studies, 22. pp. 121-138. ISSN 1350-7532

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This article engages with the criticism levelled at late twentieth- and early twenty-first century literary prizes in German-speaking Europe. It sets out how comments on the literary industry from contemporary authors and media commentators draw explicitly on the vocabulary of sport, and considers how this feeds into a long-standing discourse on literary prizes and literary value. I examine the notion that the competitive element shared by both sport and neo-capitalist society has undermined the value of literature as a serious intellectual endeavour, and I look at the different ways that Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek have engaged with these ideas in their various public expressions of authorship. Both authors not only engage directly with the problems posed by an image- and personality-obsessed society in their reflections on authorship, but also use both their own bodies and the larger body of literature they symbolically represent to argue for the ongoing social relevance of literary pursuits.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Austrian Studies
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/core/keywords/european_languages_and_cultures
Subjects:
?? authorshipelfriede jelinekthomas bernhardsportcompetitioncelebrityliterary prizeseuropean languages and culturesliterature and literary theorycultural studiesvisual arts and performing artshistorypolitical science and international relations ??
ID Code:
73741
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
18 Jun 2015 05:43
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 15:10