Peter Handke: Three New Works on the 'Ancient Way'

Three new books by Peter Handke are published simultaneously by Gallimard: the narrative 'La Nuit Morave', the story 'Kali. Une histoire d'avant-hiver', and the journal 'Hier en chemin'. Handke, one of today's greatest writers, continues his meditative journey across forms, blending fiction and notes. 'Kali' recounts Lancelot's crossing of the sword bridge via Chrétien de Troyes, set in a potash mine's infernal landscape. 'La Nuit Morave' begins in a 'miserable country, reduced to a pocket of distress in Europe' named Numancia and Samarkand, where a man on a barge tells a love story. Handke returns the European novel to its chivalric and picaresque origins, following a hero who is a 'stateless', 'fatherless' 'Prince of Nowhere' on the 'Ancient Way'. 'Hier en chemin' includes notes from travels in Scotland, Greece, Japan, and Portugal, evoking the oracular oak of Dodona. The article notes Handke's recent controversial political positions but suggests his books may save literature's honor.