Peter Handke's New Works: Essai sur le Lieu Tranquille and La Grande Chute
Peter Handke's latest publications, Essai sur le Lieu Tranquille and La Grande Chute, continue his exploration of walking, stillness, and perception. The Essai focuses on toilets as a 'quiet place' where geometric forms emerge, while La Grande Chute follows an unnamed 'comedian' on a walk through a forest and indeterminate suburb, stripping away background and narrative cues. Handke's style is compared to Tarkovsky's framing, with events appearing successively as if nothing exists off-screen. The essay ends with a jarring image of a girl killed in the 1999 NATO bombing of Belgrade while in a toilet, a moment that contradicts the book's movement. Handke's work is linked to Maurice Blanchot and a modernity of obstinate confrontation with the blank page, rejecting implicit reference. The article notes Handke's connection to cinema, having written screenplays including Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.
Key facts
- Peter Handke published Essai sur le Lieu Tranquille and La Grande Chute with Gallimard.
- Essai sur le Lieu Tranquille deals with toilets as a 'quiet place'.
- La Grande Chute features a protagonist called 'the comedian' who walks through a forest and suburb.
- Handke's style is described as an art of framing, akin to Tarkovsky's cinema.
- The essay ends with a reference to a girl killed in the 1999 NATO bombing of Belgrade.
- Handke wrote screenplays for Wim Wenders, including Wings of Desire.
- The article compares Handke's work to Maurice Blanchot's.
- Handke's work rejects implicit reference and background.
Entities
Artists
- Peter Handke
- Maurice Blanchot
- Wim Wenders
- Andrei Tarkovsky
Institutions
- Gallimard
- NATO
Locations
- Belgrade
Sources
- artpress —