In Vienna, Some Things Never Changed

Vienna before World War I was like Berlin before the Third Reich. It was the cultural center of Europe. The art was no like other. Everyone was happy. Beneath the creativity and giddiness, there was unease and trepidation. It was the final years of the Austrian Empire. The jingoistic fever was rising. Only one accident would spark a conflict. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, nothing was the same.

Sigmund Freud knew this too well. He probed into the dark recesses of the human mind, which brought him fame and fortune. In fact, his apartment was turned into a museum. It would be natural for visitors to have trepidation upon entering it. (They felt they would be psychoanalyzed.) It could have been intimidating, if not torturous, if it was during the early years of the twentieth century. Such was the case with Elfriede Jelinek's "The Piano Teacher" (1983).

A man and a woman

Erika Kohut, a piano teacher at the Vienna Conservatory, was a child prodigy. She still lived with her mother, who was very controlling. Mother and daughter have a strained relationship, the reason behind Erika's need to control others. She was also emotionally repressed, a voyeur who fancy sadomasochism.

Walter Klemmer, one of her students, desired her. She didn't reject his advances, seeing the relationship as a means of escape from her mother. Erika showed who was the boss. The young man didn't mind at first, but he became uncomfortable later on. This led to a violent incident at Erika's home. It was an unfortunate end, and at thirty eight years of age, there was little chance of her finding another man. Erika met Walter at a concert weeks later. He was talking with his friends, so he may not noticed her. He may have saw her, but chose to ignore her. When everyone left the hall, she brought out a knife and stabbed herself on her left shoulder.

Many were surprised at this dated stereotype of an affair, which was written by an intellectual.

"I describe the relationship between man and woman as a Hegelian relationship between master and slave. As long as men are able to increase their sexual value through work, fame or wealth, while women are only powerful through their body, beauty and youth, nothing will change," Jelinek said.

Jelinek, like Erika Kohut, once taught piano and lived with her mother. But she was mum when asked if she wrote a semi-autobiographical novel.

About the author

Jelinek, who turned 68 on October 20, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. She was unable to travel to Stockholm due to agorophobia. Her books were political in nature, the reason why public opinion of her was divided. Although she lives in Munich with her husband, she travels to Vienna whenever the chance comes.

Many of her works are critical of Austria's Nazi past, and she has a part to play.

"In Austria, a rather authoritarian Catholic country, the role of the social admonisher traditionally fell to artists because there were no great political thinkers," she said.