Peter Handke's The Ride Across Lake Constance: The Illusion of Self-Sufficiency

Authors

June Schlueter

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

The theatre of Peter Handke is exceptionally self-conscious, not simply in terms of the self-referentiality which is so common among modern playwrights, but in its overall assertion of itself as a self-sufficient entity. In its persistent characterization of itself as something apart from the elements of reality, dependent upon no references outside of itself, the theatre of Peter Handke is the culmination of the modern dramatist's concern with his own art. The remark which Beckett made of Joyce's work may be appropriately applied to that of Handke: "it is not about something; it is that something itself."¹

Recommended Citation

Schlueter, June (1977) "Peter Handke's The Ride Across Lake Constance: The Illusion of Self-Sufficiency," Comparative Drama: Vol. 11: Iss. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol11/iss2/2