Nobel prize leaves writer 'in despair'

Austrian novelist and playwright Elfriede Jelinek, whose works feature themes of feminist struggle between men and women, was 'in despair' after winning the Nobel Prize in literature today.

The Swedish Academy cited 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”.

Jelinek said in Vienna that she felt “more despair than peace” about winning the prize.

“It doesn’t suit me as a person to be put on public display,” she said. “I feel threatened by it. I hope it doesn’t cost me too much. I hope I can enjoy the prize money, because one can live carefree with it.”

The cash prize is €1.1m.

The decision to award the prize to a woman marked the first time since 1996, when Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska won. Since the prize first was handed out in 1901, only 10 women have won it.

Born in Murzzuschlag in the Austrian province of Stryia in 1946, she made her literary début with the collection Lisas Schatten in 1967.

Her writing took a critical turn after her involvement with the student movements that were prevalent throughout Europe in the 1970s, coming out with her satirical novel We Are Decoys, Baby!

She is unpopular in her native Austria, where she was shunned by some political leaders, in part because of her vehement opposition to the rise of the right wing Freedom Party led by Joerg Haider, which became part of the ruling coalition in 2000 on a platform that critics called anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner.

In recent years, Jelinek’s plays have received an icy reception in Austria, where screenings have been marred in the past by booing, shouting matches and patrons abruptly leaving the theatre.

Communist Party chairman Walter Baier hailed Jelinek as ”a feminist and one of the most important voices of the ’other Austria'", and he credited the writer for her ”unabashed and public attacks” on the Freedom Party.

Among Jelinek’s fans in Austria is Andreas Kohl, the president of parliament, who said he was “pleased for her and for Austria”.

Jelinek’s best known work is 1988’s The Piano Teacher, which was adapted into an award winning film.

The novel and the film tell the story of a piano instructor, Erika – a demanding taskmaster who embarks on a dramatic affair with a younger music student.

Jelinek’s recent work has been politically charged.

Her latest play, “Bambiland”, written in 2003 and translated into English in 2004, is a head-on attack against the US-led invasion of Iraq.

But Horace Engdahl, secretary-general of the academy, emphasised that the prize should not be interpreted as a political comment.

“When that play came out, this decision was – if not already made – then well underway,” he said. “I don’t think that play adds much to her authorship.”