Suicide (at the public library)

I made a quick trip downtown today, on my bike, to the public library. I was looking for books by Peter Handke.

After the controversy when he received the Ibsen Prize, I got curious. I want to read a couple of his books, to make up my own mind.

I wasn't the only one. All the books by Handke were out.

So, I borrowed a book by Stig Sæterbakken instead. He was one of our finest contemporary authors. I say was, because he died in 2012. He committed suicide at the age of 46. He often wrote about dark and unpleasant themes, such as loneliness.

I have always found authors who comitted suicide (for instance Hemingway and Bjørneboe) very inteteresting.

The French/Algerian author Albert Camus said that "the only serious philosophical question is suicide"

All animals and humans have a natural fear of death. Those who commit suicide are able to defeat the greatest of all fears.

Don't worry; I'm not one of them. I just find it interesting>:)

Handke and other jerks

Last week, the Austrian author Peter Handke was awarded the Ibsen Prize. This created a Hell of a lot of noise; demonstrations and protests. The reason for this was Handke's support for the Serbians during the war in ex-Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Handke also gave a speech in Slobodan Milosevic's funeral in 2006.

Handke was awarded the Ibsen Prize for his plays, not for supporting Serbia. The question is, can we judge an artist's works independent from his actions and opinions?

We appreciate the novels by Knut Hamsun in spite of his pro-nazi attitude during the war. He met both Hitler and Goebbels in person. Hamsun was convicted for act of treason after the war, but was put in a hospital rather than jail due to his high age.

We enjoy the writing of Jean Genet (e.g. The Thief's Journal), even though he spent years in jail, for theft, robbery and gay prostitution. Jean Paul Sartre recognized Genet's talent as a writer, and helped him avoid a life-time sentence.

We can be entertained by Marquis de Sade's novels even though the sexual abuse he describes (e.g. Justine; The Misfortunes of Virtue) is horrifying.

I think I'm gonna order a couple of books by Peter Handke from Amazon, to make up my own mind regarding his work as an artist. I usually like books by people with twisted minds.

As far as I know, Peter Handke has done nothing illegal. He has just stated opinions that the majority of people don't like, just like Ibsen's Dr. Stockmann did ... >:)

(Picture of Peter Handke borrowed from Wikipedia)