Slow Homecoming by Peter Handke
"Slow Homecoming" by Peter Handke is a novel that explores themes of self-discovery and the complexities of human relationships against the backdrop of diverse geographical locations. The protagonist, Sorger, is a geologist conducting research in Alaska, where he navigates a romantic relationship with an Indigenous woman while maintaining connections with fellow scientists. The narrative unfolds as Sorger transitions from Alaska back to his home in California, revealing his relationships with a neighbor family and an old friend he visits in Denver, whose death prompts introspection about his familial ties.
As the story progresses, Sorger's journey becomes both physical and emotional, with a gradual pull toward Europe symbolizing a deeper search for identity and belonging. Through encounters with individuals who reflect aspects of his own life, he grapples with themes of loss and connection. The novel's structure weaves together elements of travel and personal reflection, ultimately leading Sorger to European soil, where the journey of self-realization continues. "Slow Homecoming" thus serves as a poignant exploration of place, memory, and the intricate threads of human experience.
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Slow Homecoming by Peter Handke
First published: 1979-1981; includes Langsame Heimkehr, 1979 (The Long Way Around); Die Lehre der Sainte-Victoire, 1980 (The Lesson of Mont-Sainte-Victoire); Kindergeschichte, 1981 (Child Story); English translations in Slow Homecoming, 1985
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Philosophical realism
Time of plot: Late 1970’s and early 1980’s
Locale: United States, France, and Germany
Principal characters
Valentin Sorger , a geologistLauffer , Sorger’s friend and fellow scientistNative American Woman , Sorger’s girlfriendA Family in California , Sorger’s neighborsA Stranger in New York , Sorger’s traveling companionA Man ,A Woman ,Their Daughter ,Nova , the goddess of Modern TimesGregor , a man returning homeHans , Gregor’s brotherSophie , Gregor’s sister
The Story:
The Long Way Around. The geologist Sorger is doing research in the vicinity of a small Indian village in Alaska. He knows few people there: his friend and fellow scientist Lauffer, and an Indian woman with whom he has a relationship. At first he and the woman keep their affair secret. However, they gradually allow their relationship to be apparent to others. The time Sorger has in Alaska is limited. He returns to his house in an unnamed university town in California. Sorger has a close relationship with a neighbor family. On his way eastward, Sorger stops in Denver to visit an old friend. The discovery that this friend died makes Sorger rethink his relationship with his siblings. In New York, Sorger meets a man by chance who, despite all their differences, vaguely reminds Sorger of himself. Sorger’s movement, both physically and emotionally, is toward Europe. At the end, Sorger’s plane touches down onto European soil.
The Lesson of Mont-Sainte-Victoire. The narrator travels to the Provence area of France. Thanks to his appreciation of the paintings by Paul Cézanne, he views the highway, in all its banality, as pure color. He recalls other journeys, to Yugoslavia and in Upper Austria. He travels to Mont-Sainte-Victoire, which Cézanne painted. Near Puyloubier he encounters a large mastiff, and the fear that this animal represents is enough to make him forget all color and form in the landscape. Elsewhere a man threatens his life, then they walk a short way together. In a café on the Cours Mirabeau he sees a scene with card players that is almost exactly like a Cézanne painting. His expedition to the mountain gives him the justification for writing The Lesson of Mont-Sainte-Victoire. He becomes fascinated with the unity of the “thing-image-script” as he learns about it through studying Cézanne. He recalls that his father is German and his mother of Slovenian stock, and that they lived in southern Austria. Recalling again his writing, he mentions that he transformed Sorger, the main character in The Long Way Around, into himself. The “lesson” is not to invent but to realize the world fully. He takes a second trip to Provence. He again wants to go to the mountain. He retraces his steps. The dog is gone. He climbs to the top. In a few months he will return to Austria. He is learning to see, really to see things.
Child Story. A daughter is born to a woman and a man. The family moves to Paris. While the child is still very young, the family moves to a country where their own language, German, is spoken. There they build a house. The mother decides to resume her career (acting) and drifts away from the man and child. When the child is three, she begins to play more with others and go to kindergarten. The father and the daughter move back to the “beloved foreign city” (Paris). There the girl begins school. The school is a Jewish school and this eventually leads to problems. Someone even threatens her life (because she represents the people who persecuted the Jews). She goes to another school. Over the next years she will attend several schools, changing because of age or dissatisfaction (hers or his). She prefers German to French, and he decides to send her back to her mother, who lives where German is spoken. He travels. After a year, he returns. She has her tenth birthday. Father and daughter go through a forest and paint over swastikas others drew there.
Über die Dörfer. Gregor is the oldest of three siblings. After the death of their parents, his brother, Hans, writes to him requesting that he come back home and settle some questions of inheritance. Gregor reflects upon the situation in the presence of the goddess Nova. She advises him to look beyond the villages; that is, he should look beyond the traditional way of thinking about his life and in particular avoid conflict, which seems inevitable, with his siblings. That conflict arises out of the fact that Hans and their sister Sophie want Gregor to relinquish his rights to their parents’ house and its lot. Sophie wants to use the property as collateral. With the borrowed money she plans to set up her own shop. Despite his doubts about Sophie’s chances of financial success, Gregor eventually accedes to their wishes. The goddess Nova reappears at the end and repeats her counsel: Go beyond the villages.
Bibliography
Butler, Michael. “Identity and Authenticity in Swiss and Austrian Novels of the Postwar Era: Max Frisch and Peter Handke.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Modern German Novel, edited by Graham Bartram. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. An overview of Handke’s novels, including Slow Homecoming.
Coury, David N. The Return of Storytelling in Contemporary German Literature and Film: Peter Handke and Wim Wenders. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004. Discusses the origins and the definition of storytelling and describes how Handke has transformed the treatment of narration.
Coury, David N., and Frank Pilipp, eds. The Works of Peter Handke: International Perspectives. Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press, 2005. Fourteen essays examine the genres in which Handke has written and the themes of his work.
Firda, Richard Arthur. Peter Handke. New York: Twayne, 1993. Covers Handke’s work through the tetralogy (chapter 5) and beyond. Annotated bibliography.
Klinkowitz, Jerome, and James Knowlton. Peter Handke and the Postmodern Transformation: The Goalie’s Journey Home. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983. Places Handke’s work in the context of postmodern literature. Useful for understanding the themes of postmodern literature.
Konzett, Matthias. The Rhetoric of National Dissent in Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, and Elfriede Jelinek. New York: Camden House, 2000. Konzett analyzes how the three Austrian writers have created new literary strategies in order to expose and dismantle conventional ideas that impede the development of multicultural awareness and identity.
Parry, Christoph. Peter Handke’s Landscapes of Discourse: An Exploration of Narrative and Cultural Space. Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press, 2003. Focuses on the landscapes in Handke’s work. Parry maintains that Handke uses landscapes as a means of exploring the relationship between fiction and reality, and in the process the landscapes take on mythic and metaphorical qualities.
Wesche, Ulrich. “Peter Handke, Walker Percy, and the End of Modernity.” Essays in Literature 19, no. 2 (Fall, 1992): 291-297. Establishes a link between the philosophies of Handke and Percy, two of whose books Handke has translated into German. Addresses the postmodernist crisis in language and Handke’s desire for the transparency of words.