Short Letter, Long Farewell: Analysis of Major Characters
"Short Letter, Long Farewell: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate personalities and relationships within a narrative centered around an Austrian writer navigating America. The story unfolds as the introspective narrator grapples with his own emotional extremes, oscillating between despair and fleeting joy. His journey across the United States serves as a backdrop for his reflective musings on literature and life, revealing his struggles with social interactions and a heightened awareness of time.
Key characters include Judith, the narrator's estranged wife, who harbors a desire for revenge against him, and Claire Madison, an American German instructor and former lover, who provides emotional support and insight during their travels together. Their young daughter, Delta, is portrayed as overly preoccupied with order and modernity, symbolizing disconnection from the natural world. Additionally, John Ford, an elderly American film director, plays a pivotal role in the narrator's exploration of American ideals and personal reconciliation, highlighting the contrast between cinematic romanticism and the narrator's own existential dilemmas. Overall, the character dynamics offer a rich exploration of themes such as identity, nostalgia, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world.
Short Letter, Long Farewell: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Peter Handke
First published: Der kurze Brief zum langen Abschied, 1972 (English translation, 1974)
Genre: Novel
Locale: The United States
Plot: Philosophical realism
Time: The late 1960's
The narrator, an Austrian writer almost thirty years old. As the novel begins, he has just arrived in the United States (in New England). His journey across America makes up the external plot of the novel. The narrator is a strange and introspective figure, often overcome by mood swings that range from pure horror almost to euphoria. He believes that he has a very exaggerated sense of time. He is not very tolerant of other people and does not like to look at them up close. When people tell the narrator stories, the narrator is annoyed because he thinks that “one look at me must have told them I wouldn't like it.” He also thinks that people can see at a glance that he is the kind of person who will put up with anything. Throughout the novel, the narrator reads works of American and German literature and reflects on his past and his anxieties about death.
Judith, the narrator's estranged wife. Although little is said of her, she seems obsessed with taking revenge on her former husband.
Claire Madison, an American instructor of German and friend of the narrator, with whom she had an affair on one of his previous trips to the United States. She is a single parent and travels with the narrator to St. Louis. Claire is genuinely concerned about the narrator and, in the course of various conversations, helps him to clarify his feelings.
Delta Benedictine, the two-year-old daughter of the narrator's friend Claire. She is obsessed with having things in order and becomes extremely upset when objects are misplaced. The child seems out of touch with nature and the environment and is interested only in the artificial products and imitations that make up much of modern American life.
John Ford, a seventy-six-year-old American film director. He lives in his Bel Air estate and is visited by the narrator and his wife at the end of the novel. The romantic and optimistic images of nature and America found in the director's films (such as Young Mr. Lincoln) have been highly significant for the narrator in his coming to terms both with modern America and with his own life.