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COPYRIGHT 2002 Modern Humanities Research Association
In memory of Francesca Gibson and Christine Flude
A reader comparing the introduction to Elfriede Jelinek's first publication, the novel wir sind lockvogel baby! of 1970, with some of the authorial inferences and statements found in and about her recent works for the stage, Macht nichts. Eine kleine Trilogie des Todes (1999) or Ein Sportstuck (1998), (1) might initially be tempted to conclude that Elfriede Jelinek's political vigour and critical voice had very much waned. For her first novel, Jelinek provided a 'gebrauchsanweisung' which encouraged the reader to take an active, interventionist part in her book and then to become empowered to effect protest outside the bounds of the law. 'sie sollen hergehen', the author advises, '& sich uberhaupt zu VERANDERUNGEN ausserhalb der legalitat hinreissen lassen.' She goads her potential readers not to bother reading the book at all if they feel they are not capable of counter-violence ('gegengewalt') and continues in what would for today's publishing market be a most unlikely vein: 'wenn sie aber gerade daran arbeiten jene massiven offiziellen kontrollen & organe zu unterminieren zu zerstoren dann ist es unsinnig & verfehlt diese zeit fur das lesen des buches zu verschwenden' (lockvogel, gebrauchsanweisung).
The 'Nachbemerkung' to Macht nichts shows little of this obvious protest and rebellion, and the author seems almost resigned by contrast. The third part of the trilogy is a monologue entitled 'Der Wanderer', in which Jelinek's own father is dramatized as the speaker. The author's father, a half-Jew, was spared the concentration camp thanks to his important work as a chemist. (2) If the actress figure of 'Erlkonigin', the first part of the trilogy, is able to talk about the power she held over her public, the Wanderer character can merely reflect in a jumbled and melancholy way on his powerlessness. The informed reader recognizes the allusions to Steinhof, the mental asylum in which Jelinek's father ended his days, and to the persecution suffered by millions of Jews like him. The end of the trilogy is not angry in tone, however, nor is it intended to promote reconciliation. The lack of protest seems more credibly a sign of the author's frustration and resignation in the face of what she calls a 'levelling out' in modern society, a term that signals a state of affairs where the difference between persecutors and victims has long since disappeared:
das meiste bleibt unbegreiflich, wenn man meine privaten Obsessionen und die Geschichte meines Vaters nicht kennt. [...] Genau in dieser Deutungslosigkeit, in diesem Unbegreiflichen, an dieser Scheide zwischen Krieg und universellem Frieden, verschwindet der Unterschied zwischen Tatern und Opfern [...]. Die Aufdringlichkeit der jeweiligen Moderne, die alles nivelliert hat [...]: in ihr ist es auch unwichtig geworden, ob dieser eine Wanderer, als rassisch Verfolgter, fur seine Verfolger als Naturwissenschaftler mit Buna und andrem Kunststoff hat arbeiten mussen oder ob er zu diesem Zeitpunkt schon tot gewesen ist, was eigentlich fur ihn vorgesehen gewesen ware. Es ist alles eins. Macht nichts. Die Autorin ist weg, sie ist nicht der Weg. ('Nachbemerkung' to Macht nichts, pp. 89-90) After further qualification of Elfriede Jelinek's statements on the efficacy of art or literature as a political medium, I shall consider the contribution made by the writer in the field of cultural resistance to right-wing nationalism in Austria. Jelinek's stance and her cultural response may thus be seen as a case study of the scope available to writers for political resistance in general. The term 'resignation' has a dual resonance in the analysis that follows. It refers to the growing expression of frustration and despair in the face of political developments which comes to the fore in Jelinek's writing, but it refers also to Jorg Haider's actual resignation as leader of the far-right party, the Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (FPO), in February 2000. (3)
There are certain parallels in the applicability of the term 'resignation'. Jelinek's writing expresses resignation but only as a textual strategy, an ironic provocation to the reader. Irony has been Jelinek's modus operandi throughout her work, and the title Macht nichts should be read as a punning injunction, implying both 'it doesn't matter' ('es macht nichts') and 'do nothing!' Jorg Haider may have resigned his post, but his too is a mock resignation. Many artists and political observers alike argue that Haider has merely withdrawn to Carinthia in order to reemerge to a more triumphant role in Austrian politics. (4) All Jelinek's writing is political, and some of it is politically feminist, but the all-pervasive concern throughout her work is with unmasking what she might term latent fascist structures and behaviour. Only a few of Jelinek's works could be described as direct responses to particular events or personalities. These are, for example, Wolken. Heim (1990), a response to German reunification, Stecken, Stab und Stangl (1997), a response to bomb attacks on Roma residents of the Burgenland in 1995, and two short satires on the Austrian politicians Kurt Waldheim and Jorg Haider, entitled, respectively, 'Prasident Abendwind' (1986) and Das Lebewohl (2000). (5) The second part of the discussion here will focus on the drama Das Lebewohl, a text which forms part of Jelinek's protest against Jorg Haider and against the new language and politics of nationalism in Austria today.
Meta-referential remarks by the author-narrator or by dramatic characters abound in Jelinek's texts. The reader of lockvogel reads with amusement: 'das soll kein ernstes werk sein wie so viele sondern mehr beschwingten karakters'. The narratorial voice promises a kind of holiday book, 'das sie gewiss nicht belasten wird mit hoher politik grausamkeiten in der welt oder im inland' (p. 30). lockvogel is, of course, anything but an 'easy', apolitical read. As for Ein Sportstuck, although the monologues and dialogues are nominally assigned to a number of figures, the voice and preoccupations of the author are discernible in many of the passages. The 'Frau' comments to the 'Sportler', and implicitly to the audience: 'Wir sind hier in einem Stuck von einem Stuck von einem Stuck. Was mochtest du lieber horen? Mochtest du lieber ein andres horen? Dich zerstreuen?' (p. 115).
The submissive tone of Jelinek the author in her introduction to Macht nichts is itself 'performed' in Ein Sportstuck, by 'Elfi Elektra' or 'die Autorin', the dramatic embodiment of the author. (6) The names of Stalin and Hitler have given way, she says, to those of Mladic and Karadzic, and these in turn are almost outdated. (7) It is time to welcome along those she calls the new 'heroes of history':
Bitte einen Applaus fur all diese Herren, denn dies ist das erste und gleichzeitig letzte Mal, dass hier von ihnen die Rede sein wird, obwohl von mir in diesem Punkt eigentlich mehr Engagement zu erwarten ware! So. Jetzt engagiere ich mich extra nicht! Diesen Applaus nehme ich mir aber, obwohl im Grunde sie ihn sich verdient hatten, die Helden der Geschichte, die doch heute beinahe schon vergessen sind, denn die neuen haben wir bereits hereinbekommen. (Ein Sportstuck, pp....
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