Elfriede Jelinek’s Princess Plays

The summer issue of Theater examines the plays of the 2004 Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek. The Nobel Prize brought long-overdue international recognition to one of Europe’s most original and controversial playwright-novelists. Born in Austria in 1946, Jelinek has recently been an outspoken dissenting voice in national and global politics. Despite the acclaim she has won in Europe and the successful film version of her novel The Piano Teacher, few of her plays have been translated into English, and Jelinek has been overlooked in American course curricula and rarely staged in U.S. theaters.

Elfriede Jelinek and The Princess Plays includes an article on Jelinek’s changing position in the world of letters by Gitta Honegger, a leading Jelinek scholar and translator. Accompanying this major article is Honegger’s extended interview with the author; they discuss Jelinek’s aesthetic influences and ideas, what it’s like to win the Nobel Prize, and its implications for the writer. In addition to the first English-language publication of three short plays from Elfriede Jelinek’s Princess Plays, this issue of Theater includes Gitta Honegger’s extended and deeply personal interview with Jelinek, as well as Honegger’s article on her changing position in the world of letters since winning the 2004 Nobel Prize. The issue, which also includes articles on France’s Théâtre du Soleil, offers a compelling portrait of Jelinek and a rare introduction to her provocative theater.

Contributors. Duccio Bellugi, Gitta Honegger, Elfriede Jelinek, Robert Kluyver, Marina Kotzamani, Judith Miller, Ariane Mnouchkine, Béatrice Picon-Vallin, Anthony Richter, Gordon Rogoff, René Solis, Emmanuel Wallon, Philippa Wehle