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A Sorrow Beyond Dreams - Peter Handke, Ralph Manheim, Jeffrey Eugenides
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
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4.30 25
Peter Handke's mother was an invisible woman. Throughout her life—which spanned the Nazi era, the war, and the postwar consumer economy—she struggled to maintain appearances, only to arrive at a terrible recognition: "I'm not human any more." Not long after, she killed herself with an overdose of... show more
Peter Handke's mother was an invisible woman. Throughout her life—which spanned the Nazi era, the war, and the postwar consumer economy—she struggled to maintain appearances, only to arrive at a terrible recognition: "I'm not human any more." Not long after, she killed herself with an overdose of sleeping pills.In A Sorrow Beyond Dreams her son sits down to record what he knows, or thinks he knows, about his mother's life and death before, in his words, "the dull speechlessness—the extreme speechlessness" of grief takes hold forever. And yet the experience of speechlessness, as it marks both suffering and love, lies at the heart of Handke's brief but unforgettable elegy. This austere, scrupulous, and deeply moving book is one of the finest achievements of a great contemporary writer.
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781590170199 (1590170199)
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Pages no: 76
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
so many books, so little time
so many books, so little time rated it
5.0 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
...disorder, cold, and silence drive me to distraction;... And so seven weeks after his mother's suicide at the age of 51, Handke makes himself sit down to write an account of her life, trying to avoid what he terms the "transformations" that would turn his story into art or allow him to distance hi...
SJane
SJane rated it
NYRB not only has an amazing selection of books, but their cover design is invariably gorgeous, and in a few cases even seems reason enough to buy some of their titles. I loved the cover of [b:Stoner|166997|Stoner|John Edward Williams|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320600716s/166997.jpg|1559207] and ...
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