Summary of The Piano Teacher
In her novel “The Piano Teacher”, Elfriede Jelinek follows a teacher at the Vienna Conservatory who starts a sadomasochistic relationship with one of her students, partly as a means to escape the suffocating relationship with her mother.
Reasons to read The Piano Teacher
“The Piano Teacher” is a dark and unsettling novel by Nobel Prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek, who was herself a student at the Vienna Conservatory. The novel explores the central role of music and its influence on the relationships between men and women. Prominent themes include the problematic relationships between mother and daughter and between teacher and student. As in other Jelinek novels, themes of sexual desire, violence, and powerplay dominate the narrative. Sensitive readers are cautioned. In 2001, “The Piano Teacher” was adapted into a film of the same name by Michael Haneke.
Setting: Vienna (Austria)
Original title: Die Klavierspielerin
Year of publication: 1983
Nr of pages: 288
