The Ballad of the Last Guest

The Ballad of the Last Guest is a novel by the Austrian writer Peter Handke, published in 2023 by Suhrkamp Verlag.

Plot

It is about a man who due to his younger brother's death makes a rare visit to his place of origin, which has changed from countryside to urban sprawl, and his family, which both is similar and changed, making him observe the surroundings and reminisce as he walks around the area. Gregor, the protagonist, is a recurring character in Handke's works who first appeared in his debut novel in 1966.

Reception

Florian Eichel of Die Zeit wrote that "the uncanny is reflected in Handke's notorious habit of speaking less to the reader than to himself" and that "Handke does not write like a poet, but like a brilliant editor" who incorporates comments like "Sic|" and criticism of his own repetitions. Eichel related the novel's theme of an alien guest to his own home to Handke's status as "the last of the great old German-language writers", following the deaths of Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Martin Walser.