Elfriede Jelinek, Ein Sportstück [A Sportsplay]

Linda C. DeMeritt (Allegheny College)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

Austria (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Elfriede Jelinek's highly acclaimed play of 1998 titled

Ein Sportstück

[

A Sports Play

] presents a scathing indictment of today's obsession with sports. The dramatist conceives of sports as a publicly waged battle that incites racist, antisemitic, and sexist sentiments. She states: “Sports have always interested me, and my hatred of athletes runs thematically throughout all of my texts. […] After all, sports are war […]”. Her play depicts the violence under-girding a culture that pays homage to the body at the expense of the intellect or emotion, a violence that results in the death of star athletes due to hormone abuse or in the multiple deaths of fans trampled at soccer matches. Jelinek, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004, has earned extensive praise…

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2126 words

Citation: DeMeritt, Linda C.. "Ein Sportstück". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16863, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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