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"The Piano Teacher is an exploration of fascism, not so much in the
political sense as in the personal. In Joachim Neugroschel's excellent
translation, the language is simple yet full of imaginative, often funny
metaphors, the view of the world original, if at times almost painfully
bizarre."-New York Times Book Review
"A dazzling performance that will make the blood run cold."-Walter
Abish
"A brilliant, bitter, wonderful portrait of mother and daughter, artist
and lover."-John Hawkes
"A brilliant, uncompromising book."-Publishers WeeklyErika Kohut
teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory by day. But by night she trawls
the porn shows of Vienna while her mother, whom she loves and hates in
equal measure, waits up for her.
Into this emotional pressure-cooker bounds music student and ladies'
man, Walter Klemmer. With Walter as her student, Erika spirals out of
control, consumed by the ecstasy of self-destruction.
First published in 1983, The Piano Teacher is the masterpiece of
Elfriede Jelinek, Austria's most famous writer. Now a feature film
directed by Michael Haneke, The Piano Teacher won three major prizes at
the Cannes 2001 Festival including best actor for Benoit Magimel and best
actress for Isabelle Huppert.
Elfriede Jelinek was born in Austria in 1946 and grew up in Vienna
where she attended the famous Music Conservatory. The leading Austrian
writer of her generation, she has been awarded the Heinrich Boll Prize for
her contribution to German-language literature.
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