True Feeling

 Handke takes me into places where I had thought a week ago that only Fosse was trying to do.  More of a surprise in Handke.  This novel feels so unusual and fits my readerly wishes and hopes in unexpected ways every line, every paragraph.  I thought, oh, its a Rohmer movie, maybe.  No.  It is Handke and only Handke.  Still learning how to read him.  More delight in that than, ok, Lentz.  I finished the section before Washed and almost want to go back and read it again before going on.  

"He hadn't wished for a sign, but now unintentionally he had E X P E R I E N C E D one. 82

looking up and pasting in google text now feels like committing the worst sort of clerical apostasy, heresy, violation of the whole essence of writing and bookness --- 

Yes, the Austrian author Peter Handke's later work is particularly associated with the search for and experience of a 

"nearly mystical truth" or a heightened perception of reality, often tied to a quest for meaning that lies beyond the surface of everyday life and language. 

Key aspects of this include:

• "A Moment of True Feeling": His novel of this name explores a character who finds meaning when the world becomes "mysterious" and he can connect to it in a non-routine way.
• "Images" and Visions: In works like The Loss of Images (German title), a character experiences her interior life through "images"—a kind of "mystical, hallucinatory vision of landscapes and places"—which is central to the novel's experience.
• Metaphysics and Perception: Critics note a "metaphysic developed in Handke's newer books, which aims to translate the seen and perceived into language". His writing often works from "an area beyond psychology, where feelings acquire the adamancy of randomly encountered, geologically analyzed pebbles," as noted by John Updike.
• Beyond the "Linguistic Surface": Handke has evolved in his career from emphasizing the opacity of language to being "more and more concerned with the possibility of a nearly mystical truth lying somewhere beyond this same linguistic surface".
• Spirituality and Contemplation: While Handke is reticent about using the word "spirituality" too often, his travel writing and notebooks, such as Traveling Yesterday, include annotations with biblical citations and reflections about God and the divine, indicating a clear engagement with spiritual ideas and contemplation of Romanesque art. 

Handke's writing is often described as seeking to "do the world justice" by finding a language that captures an authentic, if elusive, reality or truth. 

------  bravo for this  ----next---how much has Fosse been influenced by Handke's work?  

Jon Fosse has acknowledged Peter Handke as one of his 

favorite authors and a significant influence, although the precise extent of the influence on his style is nuanced. 

Fosse considers himself a "Central European" writer and lists Austrian authors Georg Trakl, Thomas Bernhard, and Peter Handke as key literary inspirations. He has also publicly defended Handke from political criticism, supporting the decision to award him the Ibsen Prize in 2014 and the Nobel Prize in 2019, stating Handke was a worthy recipient based purely on literary merit. 

In terms of literary style, Fosse's work shares a minimalist, spare quality with Handke's, focusing on the "unsayable" and human anxiety, but critics often draw stronger direct comparisons to Samuel Beckett in Fosse's use of repetition and exploration of existential themes. While Handke's work is known for its linguistic ingenuity and experimental nature, Fosse's is characterized by a "quieter disturbance" and a focus on internal rhythms rather than the rage or theatricality sometimes found in other influenced writers like Bernhard. 

In summary, Handke is a highly admired and acknowledged influence, but Fosse has developed a distinct style that uses similar minimalist techniques for different emotional and thematic effects.