Editing Peter Handke (section)

==Controversies==

In 1996, Handke's [[Travel literature|travelogue]] ''Eine winterliche Reise zu den Flüssen Donau, Save, Morawa und Drina oder Gerechtigkeit für Serbien'' (published in English as ''A Journey to the Rivers: Justice for Serbia'') created controversy, as Handke portrayed [[Serbia]] as being among the victims of the [[Yugoslav Wars]]. In the same essay, Handke also criticised Western media for misrepresenting the causes and consequences of the war.<ref name="Sage-thetimes-2006-Theatre-dismissal"/><!--Former Yugoslavian president [[Slobodan Milošević]] asked that Handke be summoned as a witness for his defence before the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]], but the writer declined. He did, however, visit the tribunal as a spectator, and later published his observations in ''Die Tablas von Daimiel'' (''The Tablas of Daimiel''). In 1999, [[Salman Rushdie]] wrote that Handke "has astonished even his most fervent admirers by his current series of impassioned apologias for the [[genocidal]] regime of Slobodan Milosevic." Rushdie commented that Handke received the Order of the Serbian Knight from Milošević for his propaganda services during a visit to Belgrade, and that his "previous idiocies include the suggestion that Sarajevo's Muslims regularly massacred themselves and then blamed the Serbs, and his denial of the genocide carried out by Serbs at Srebrenica."<ref name="rushdie">[[Salman Rushdie]], "May 1999," in ''Step Across This Line'', [[Random House]], 2008</ref> In the mid 2000s, Handke's public support of [[Slobodan Milošević]], the former president of Yugoslavia who was indicted for [[war crime]]s by a UN tribunal for his role in the [[Yugoslav Wars]], was considered controversial in the West, including Handke's delivery of a brief speech (partially in [[Serbian language|Serbian]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://handkeonline.onb.ac.at/node/1877|title=Milošević: Ein Begräbnis (2006) &#124; Handke online|website=handkeonline.onb.ac.at}}</ref> at Milošević's funeral on 18 March 2006.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref>[[Joshua Cohen (writer)|Cohen, Joshua]] (30 December 2016)."[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/books/review/peter-handke-moravian-night.html Peter Handke’s Time-Traveling Tale of a Europe in Flux]" (review of ''The Moravian Night''). ''New York Times''. Retrieved 12 October 2019.</ref>--> <!--In a letter to the French ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur|Nouvel Observateur]]'', he offered a translation of his speech: "The world, the so-called world, knows everything about Yugoslavia, Serbia. The world, the so-called world, knows everything about Slobodan Milošević. The so-called world knows the truth. This is why the so-called world is absent today, and not only today, and not only here. I don't know the truth. But I look. I listen. I feel. I remember. This is why I am here today, close to Yugoslavia, close to Serbia, close to Slobodan Milošević".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=culture/20060503.OBS6399.html |title=Sur l’"affaire Handke" |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526030403/http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=culture%2F20060503.OBS6399.html |archive-date=26 May 2007 }}</ref> Handke converted to the Serbian Orthodox Church, renouncing Roman Catholicism. Handke's position regarding the war in Yugoslavia has been challenged by the Slovenian writer and essayist [[Drago Jančar]], and the two have engaged in a long polemic. --to return when sourced -->

Sebastian Hammelehle wrote that Handke's view of the [[Yugoslav Wars]], which has provoked numerous controversies, was probably romanticized, but that it represented the view of a writer, not a [[War correspondent|war reporter]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hammelehle|first=Sebastian|date=10 October 2019|url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/peter-handke-die-besten-buecher-des-nobelpreistraegers-a-1290940.html|title=Die besten Romane und Erzählungen des Nobelpreisträgers|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|access-date=11 September 2020|language=de}}</ref> The American translator Scott Abbott, who travelled with Handke through [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] after which numerous essays were published, stated that Handke considered Yugoslavia as the "incredible, rich [[Multiculturalism|multicultural]] state that lacked the kind of nationalisms that he saw in Germany and Austria".<ref name=NYT /> Abbott added that Handke viewed the [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|disintegration]] of country as the disappearance of [[utopia]].<ref name=NYT /> Reviewing ''[[The Moravian Night]]'', Joshua Cohen stated that Handke's Yugoslavia was not a country, but a symbol of himself, a symbol of literature or the "European Novel".<ref name=Cohen /> [[Volker Hage]] wrote that ''The Moravian Night'' is "extremely cosmopolitan" and connected to the present, while also that the book represents the autobiographical summary of Handke's life as a writer.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hage |first=Volker |author-link=Volker Hage|date=7 January 2008|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-55294689.html |title=Der übermütige Unglücksritter|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|access-date=11 September 2020|language=de}}</ref> Tanjil Rashid noted that "Handke’s novels, plays and memoirs demonstrate the evil of banality".<ref name=Rashid />

After his play ''Voyage by Dugout'' was staged in 1999, Handke was condemned by other writers: [[Susan Sontag]] proclaimed Handke to be "finished" in New York.<ref name="Zakaria-CNN-Handke-Tokarczuk">{{cite web |last1=Zakaria |first1=Rafia |title=Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk: Nobel prize winners epitomize our darkest divides |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/10/opinions/nobel-prize-in-literature-outrage-zakaria/index.html |website=CNN |access-date=5 January 2020 |date=10 December 2019}}</ref> [[Salman Rushdie]] declared him as a candidate for "International Moron of the Year" due to his "idiocies",<ref name="BBC-'shameful' Nobel-2019">{{cite web |title=Critics condemn 'shameful' Nobel for writer Handke |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50008701 |website=BBC News |access-date=19 May 2020 |language=en |date=11 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="slobodnadalmacija-2019-Žižek-Rushdie-PEN">{{cite web |title=Slavoj Žižek, Salman Rushdie, američki i britanski P.E.N. osudili izbor Petera Handkea, austrijski predsjednik Alexander Van der Bellen smatra da 'imamo još puno toga naučiti od Handkea' |url=https://slobodnadalmacija.hr/kultura/slavoj-zizek-nbsp-salman-rushdie-americki-i-britanski-p-e-n-osudili-izbor-petera-handkea-austrijski-predsjednik-strong-strong-alexander-van-der-bellen-smatra-da-39-imamo-jos-puno-toga-nauciti-od-handkea-39-627595 |website=slobodnadalmacija.hr |publisher=Slobodna Dalmacija |access-date=19 May 2020 |language=hr-hr |date=11 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="Rushdie-Globe&Mail-Balkan Witness">{{cite web |author1=Salman Rushdie |title=For services rendered – to the cause of folly |url=http://balkanwitness.glypx.com/rushdie.htm |website=Balkan Witness |publisher=from The Toronto Globe and Mail |access-date=17 May 2020 |language=en |date=7 May 1999|quote=In the battle for the hotly contested title of International Moron of the Year, two heavyweight contenders stand out. One is the Austrian writer Peter Handke, who has astonished even his work’s most fervent admirers by a series of impassioned apologias for the genocidal regime of Slobodan Milosevic, and who, during a recent visit to Belgrade, received the Order of The Serbian Knight for his propaganda services. Mr. Handke’s previous idiocies include the suggestion that Sarajevo’s Muslims regularly massacred themselves and then blamed the Serbs, and his denial of the genocide carried out by Serbs at Srebrenica. Now he likens the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s aerial bombardment to the alien invasion in the movie Mars Attacks! And then, foolishly mixing his metaphors, he compares the Serbs’ sufferings to the Holocaust.}}</ref> while [[Alain Finkielkraut]] said that he was an "ideological monster",<ref name="Staff-Guardian-Stand-up-if-support-Serb">{{cite web |last=Traynor |first=Ian |title=Stand up if you support the Serbs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/21/features11.g28 |work=The Guardian |access-date=18 November 2019 |date=21 April 1999 |quote=This writer, the Austrian, has his very personal style. The very worst crimes get mentioned rather sweetly. And so the reader completely forgets that we're dealing with crimes. The Austrian writer who visited my country found only very proud people there. They proudly put up with everything that happened to them, so much so that in their pride they didn't bother to ask why all this was happening to them.}}</ref> and [[Slavoj Žižek]] stated that his "glorification of the Serbs is cynicism".<ref name="Staff-Guardian-Stand-up-if-support-Serb"/> When Handke was awarded the [[International Ibsen Award]] in 2014, the Norwegian author [[Øyvind Berg (lyric poet)|Øyvind Berg]] called for the jury to resign.<ref name="kk">[http://www.klassekampen.no/article/20140909/ARTICLE/140909962 Krever at juryen går av], ''Klassekampen''</ref>

However, disputing such interpretations of his work as listed above as misinterpreted by the English press, Handke has described the Srebrenica massacre as an "infernal vengeance, eternal shame for the Bosnian Serbs responsible."<ref name="Parlons donc de la Yougoslavie" >{{Cite web|url=https://www.liberation.fr/tribune/2006/05/10/parlons-donc-de-la-yougoslavie_38687|title=Parlons donc de la Yougoslavie|work=[[Libération]]|access-date=4 February 2022|language=fr}}</ref> This concern about the imprecision and political nature of language, carries through Handke's view. In a 2006 interview, Handke commented on concerns about the stereotyped language of the media that "knew everything", endlessly recycling words like "the butcher of Belgrade".<ref>"Le discours intégral de l'écrivain autrichien sur la tombe de Milosevic," Libération, 4 May 2006.</ref>

Handke’s literary fame was overshadowed in 2006 by his politics. The writer’s public support of [[Slobodan Milošević]], the former president of Yugoslavia who died that year while on trial for genocide and war crimes, caused controversy after Handke spoke at his funeral.<ref name="Britannica" /> Because of this the administrator of the theatre [[Comédie-Française]], [[Marcel Bozonnet]], removed Handke's play "Voyage au pays sonore ou L'art de la question" from the forthcoming 2007 schedule.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/umstrittenes-handke-stueck-kuenstler-protest-fuer-den-autor-a-414322.html|title=Künstler-Protest für den Autor|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=3 May 2006 |access-date=4 February 2022|language=de}}</ref> This event once again drew both supportive and critical voices. [[Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres]], the French minister of culture, implicitly criticized Bozonnet's action in a letter addressed to him, and by deciding to invite Handke to the ministry. A petition against the censorship of his work was signed by [[Emir Kusturica]], [[Patrick Modiano]] (winner of the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 2014), [[Paul Nizon]], [[Bulle Ogier]], [[Luc Bondy]] and Handke’s compatriot [[Elfriede Jelinek]] (winner of the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 2004).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liberation.fr/culture/2006/05/03/jelinek-soutient-peter-handke_38042|title=Jelinek soutient Peter Handke|work=[[Libération]]|access-date=4 February 2022|language=fr}}</ref> 
Handke was subsequently selected to receive that year’s [[Heinrich Heine Prize]], though he refused it before it was to be revoked from him.<ref name="Britannica" />

In 2013, [[Tomislav Nikolić]], as the President of Serbia, expressed gratitude saying that some people still remember those who suffered for Christianity, implying that Handke was a victim of scorn for his views, to which Handke replied with an explanation, "I was not anyone's victim, the Serbian people is victim." This was said during the ceremony at which Handke received the ''Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Serbia''.<ref name="rts.rs-2013-Nikolic-medal-Handke">{{cite web |title=Nikolić odlikovao Petera Handkea |url=https://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/drustvo/1301000/nikolic-odlikovao-petera-handkea.html |website=www.rts.rs |access-date=20 May 2020 |language=sr |date=8 April 2013}}</ref>

In 2019, [[The Intercept]] published a number of articles by [[Peter Maass]] criticizing Peter Handke's [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] reception. In another article by Intercept, Maass went to great lengths accusing Handke of being an "exponent of white nationalism". Subsequently in an interview conducted by Maass in December 2019, asking Handke whether the 1995 [[Srebrenica massacre]] had happened, Handke responded: “I prefer waste paper, an anonymous letter with waste paper inside, to your empty and ignorant questions.” Maass also claims that two Nobel prize jurors were adhering to "conspiracy theories" with regard to American involvement in the Yugoslav conflicts, and that the jurors were "misinformed" about Handke's literary achievements. Peter Handke received countless mails that included threats, or unsanitary content. Germany's [[Eugen Ruge]] also protested against the scale of the criticism. In November, around 120 authors, literary scholars, translators and artists expressed their unease in an open letter. They felt that the criticism against Handke was no longer rational.<ref>[https://theintercept.com/2019/10/10/congratulations-nobel-committee-you-just-gave-the-literature-prize-to-a-genocide-apologist/ "Congratulations, Nobel Committee, You Just Gave the Literature Prize to a Genocide Apologist"]. [[TheIntercept]]. Retrieved 2 May 2021.</ref><ref>Sheeehan D. (December 6, 2019) [https://lithub.com/i-prefer-toilet-paper-to-your-empty-and-ignorant-questions-the-peter-handke-controversy-rolls-on/ “I prefer toilet paper to your empty and ignorant questions.” The Peter Handke drama rolls on.] ''lithub.com.'' Retrieved 2 May 2021.</ref><ref>[https://www.dw.com/en/nobel-laureate-peter-handkes-critics-and-supporters/a-51543860 "Nobel laureate Peter Handke's critics and supporters"]. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 3 May 2021.</ref>

In February 2020, Handke was decorated with the [[Order of Karađorđe's Star]] for "special merits in representing Serbia and its citizens" as he "wholeheartedly defended the Serbian truth". The current President of Serbia [[Aleksandar Vučić]] presented recipients on the occasion of the Serbian Statehood Day.<ref name="aljazeera-2020-Vučić-Handke-Orden">{{cite web |title=Vučić dodijelio Handkeu Orden Karađorđeve zvijezde |url=http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/vucic-dodijelio-handkeu-orden-karadordeve-zvijezde |website=Al Jazeera Balkans |access-date=20 May 2020 |language=sh |date=15 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="slobodnaevropa-2020-Vučić-odlikovao-Handkea">{{cite news |title=Vučić odlikovao Zemana i Handkea |url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/30436009.html |website=Radio Slobodna Evropa |access-date=20 May 2020 |language=sh |date=15 April 2020}}</ref>

=== Reactions to the Nobel Prize ===
{{main|2019 Nobel Prize in Literature}}
{{see also|Nobel Prize controversies}}