Elfriede Jelinek

Elfriede Jelinek (born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian feminist playwright and novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004 "for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."

Biography

Jelinek was born in Mürzzuschlag, Styria, Austria. Her father, Jewish of Czech origin ("Jelinek" means "little deer" in Czech), was a chemist and worked in strategically important industrial production during the Second World War, thereby escaping persecution. However, several dozen family members became victims of the Holocaust. Her "dominating" mother, with whom she shared the household even as an adult (compare The Piano Teacher) and with whom she had a difficult relationship, was from a formerly prosperous Vienna family. As a child, Elfriede suffered much from what she considered over-restrictive education in a Roman Catholic convent school. Besides, her mother planned her career as a musical Wunderkind. At an early age, Elfriede was instructed in piano, organ, guitar, violin, viola and recorder. Later, she went on to study at the Vienna Conservatory, where she graduated with an organist diploma. Jelinek also studied art history and drama at the University of Vienna, however she had to discontinue because of an anxiety disorder that prevented her from following courses. Jelinek's biography reflects strongly in her opus.

Related Topics:
Mürzzuschlag - Styria - Jew - Czech - Czech - Chemist - Holocaust - The Piano Teacher - Vienna - Roman Catholic - Wunderkind - Art history - Drama - University of Vienna

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