HANDKE, PETER

(1942- )

   Playwright. Handke enjoyed a vogue in the 1970s for his distinctly apolitical plays; many considered him an antidote to Bertolt Brecht. His Kaspar (1968) was among the most widely performed plays anywhere in German-speaking theaters. The Anxiety of the Goalie at the Penalty Kick (1970) and The Ride across Lake Constance (1971) were not so well received, but they were in many ways precursors to subsequent postmodernist developments in the German theater. The latter in particular is an anarchic performance piece, in which actors assume bizarre personae that have nothing to do with the famous names attached to the figures they supposedly represent, such as Emil Jannings, Henny Porten, Elisabeth Bergner, and others. Handke received the Büchner Prize in 1973 and has since written numerous screenplays.