Who is Elfriede Jelinek?

Readers are eager to learn more about Austria’s Elfriede Jelinek, who was virtually unknown in the United States before the announcement that she had received the Nobel Prize for literature.

Within 24 hours of Thursday’s citation by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on 8 Oct 2004, four of her books had jumped into the top 70 on Amazon.com’s list of best sellers. The ranking of The Piano Teacher, a novel adapted into a 2001 movie starring Isabelle Huppert, soared from position 1.1 million early Thursday to No. 9 early Friday (9 Oct 2004).  Other books selling strongly include Lust, Women as Lovers and Wonderful, Wonderful, Times. Although a celebrated and controversial author in Austria and Germany, the 57-year-old Jelinek doesn’t even have a publisher in the United States, an increasingly tough market for books in translation. English versions of a handful of works have been released by the London-based Serpent’s Tail, which specializes in experimental and political works.