- -
How cometh, tonight I remember an episode of October 10th? Anyway, I do, as well as I know one ought not to disturb my friend while he is busy with proof-reading his 1669 pages short opus magnum "Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell".
I, entering his sanctuary.
He, without looking up: You would not dare to ask for my opinion about the Nobel Comitee's decision?
– Now you ask.
– Inconsequent.
– Inconsequent?
– Quite. Consequent would have been, had they split the Prize: 430,000 Euro for Handke, and 430,000 for the great poet Radovan Karadžić.
– You are kidding, Tetrapilotomos. Don't like Peter Handke, eh?
– An overrated egomaniac.
– It's easy to criticise. Did you read anything of him, perhaps, The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick?
- This and enough to see that, from the beginning, when Offending the Audience, he was an overrated bore. And now he's but an old fart.
- He will be able to live with that.
- Unfortunately, yes.
– May I ask if you read A Journey to the Rivers: Justice for Serbia?
– You may.
– And? Did you?
– Yes. 1996. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the same year I also read "The Poet's Anxiety at the Reality"*, in which 16 journalists and authors had answered to the Handke Report, amongst them Marcel Ophuls, Dževad Karahasan, Bora Ćosić and Günter Kunert.
– Handke Report?
– Yes, Would have been the right title for what obviously is his opus magnum; showing his character in a nutshell.
– You would not mean, Handke Report analogue to a certain Leuchter Report, would you?
– Now you surprise me, Sean.
– You mean, he made his winterly journey allegedly to prove Serbian atrocities only to find out: Fake news?
– Well, fake news make presidents. Why not Nobel Prize Winners? In other words: Why should very young external advisors of the Nobel-Prize-Comitee be not as stupid as simple voters?
– Is it as simple as that?
– Well, perhaps one day they find time to read "The Little Red Chairs" and come to the conclusion that, amongst a few others, Edna O'Brien would have been the better choice.
* Die Angst des Dichters vor der Wirklichkeit, © Steidl Verlag, 1996
