20 Years After the Nobel Prize: Elfriede Jelinek’s New Novel Angabe der Person

<ns3:p>The latest novel by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, Angabe der Person, came out in Poland in 2024,twenty years after the author was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Its publication providesa good opportunity to revisit the controversies surrounding Jelinek’s nomination. The media debatewas dominated by journalists from leading German-language newspapers and magazines, whileliterary scholars contributed to a lesser extent. The former primarily accused the Nobel Committeeof making a quota-based choice (considering the underrepresentation of women among laureates),whereas the latter defended the artistic merit of Jelinek’s writing and her courage in condemningthe attitudes of Austrian society within both historical and contemporary contexts. Angabeder Person is largely autobiographical, and apart from addressing some highly relevant contemporaryissues, such as the commercialization of modern life and the resulting fraudulent tendencies,it contains reminiscences about Jelinek’s family history. Her family members, due to their Jewishorigin, faced persecution and many of them perished in concentration camps. Written with the useof stream-of-consciousness, the novel is an exceptionally personal work by a mature writer, representingher signature style and remarkable linguistic sensitivity.</ns3:p>