“The artist is lonesome and admits his solitude.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 24
The Piano Teacher (1988)
Quotes from bookThe Piano Teacher
Elfriede JelinekOriginal title Die Klavierspielerin (German, 1983)
The Piano Teacher is a novel by Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, first published in 1983 by Rowohlt Verlag. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel, it was the first of Jelinek's novels to be translated into English.The novel follows protagonist Erika Kohut [ˈeːʀika ˈkoːhʊt], a sexually and emotionally repressed piano teacher, as she enters into a sadomasochistic relationship with her student, Walter Klemmer [ˈvaltɐ ˈklɛmɐ], the results of which are disastrous. Like much of Jelinek's work, the chronology of the events in the book is interwoven with images of the past and the internal thoughts of characters.While the English work was titled The Piano Teacher, the title in German means the piano player; it is also clear that the player is female because of the noun's feminine ending.
“Every child instinctively heads toward dirt and filth unless you pull it back.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 24
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“Better to wear worn shoes than to polish the boots of shop owner.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 30
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“A sensitive person gets burned, like a delicate moth.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
Der Sensible muß verbrennen, dieser zarte Nachtfalter.
P 71
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“Sometimes, of course, art creates the suffering in the first place.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 23
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“The criteria of art are the imponderable, the immeasurable.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 118
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“There are no holidays for art; and that’s just fine with the artist.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 29
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“Just keep following my tears, and the brook will take you in.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
p 44
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“Don’t start anything you can’t finish.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
The Piano Teacher (1988)
“Art and order, the relative that refuse to relate.”
Elfriede Jelinek book The Piano Teacher
P 124
The Piano Teacher (1988)
