Anxiety

Watching ski jumping on the Olympics this morning, I imagined the anxiety of the athletes as they wait ... and this reminded me of one of the better titles in world literature, The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.

This is a novel by the remarkable German writer Peter Handke.

“Handke became the enfant terrible of the European avant-garde, denouncing all social, psychological and historical categories of experience as species of linguistic fraud. But [he] has aged well and now…is regarded as one of the most important writers in German.” ―Richard Locke, The New York Times

Handke wrote a terrific avant-garde play, Insulting the Audience, which is an accurate description of the play's action. I saw a production at the Univ of Oregon as a grad student and have been a Handke fan ever since -- and a wee bit jealous that Europe has such a stronger literary tradition than we do, embracing the avant-garde with more interest and energy. Hence my success with hyperdrama overseas but not at home.

Handke has had a very controversial career.

He has been awarded the Georg Büchner Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize and the International Ibsen Award; the latter award was extremely controversial and Handke was met by protesters in Oslo and widely described by critics in Norwegian media as a fascist with ties to war criminals.^[2] In 2006 his nomination for the Heinrich Heine Prize caused a scandal, and the prize was withdrawn due to his political views.^{[3] (Wikipedia)}

He has fans and literary enemies even today. Doesn't seem to bother him.

 “It was nearly winter. I had just seen a friend die, and was again beginning to take pleasure in my own existence. This friend, who thought of himself as the "first man to experience pain", had nevertheless tried up to the last moment to wish death away. I was thankful for all things and decreed: Enjoy yourself, take advantage of your days of good health.” 

― Peter Handke, Slow Homecoming