Fury

According to Greek mythology, the goddess Hera made Heracles blind with rage, leading him to slaughter his own family. In 2015 the gods have different names, for instance the god served by three armed young men who storm into a publisher’s office and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, killing a total of twelve people. The blind rage of ancient times, however, has remained. Today it is even more virulent, not least because modern weapons are so much more effective.

Imbued with a deep-felt fury, this text is without doubt one of Elfriede Jelinek‘s darkest to date and dissects contemporary political events in the context of myths and stories that have been unfolding for many years, a method Jelinek has often employed elsewhere. Here, rage is presented in a multi-faceted way and from a number of perspectives. These include the various methods employed by Islamic terrorists (and their particular hatred of Jews); outraged citizens vocally protesting against elected politicians; narcissists viscerally taking offence; or brutal fights for resources around the globe. Yet rage is also depicted as a force that has been spurring humans on for centuries, mostly in a highly destructive way.

With powerful eloquence and clarity of thought, Jelinek articulates her own stunned state of speechless impotence in the face of these crimes. At the same time she also examines the contradictions between the proscription of religious depictions on the one hand and the flood of barbarous images on the internet on the other, in which bombings, decapitated human heads and other atrocities – all of them motivated by distorted religious beliefs – are presented for millions to see.

Rage is an epic that begins in ancient prehistory and attempts to describe the indescribable and understand the inexplicable of modern times.