Jelinek's Homeland Complex

Elfriede Jelinek(1946-)is a highly controversial litterateur because of her bold satire, exposing the social reality, and her radical feminist stance. The relationship with her homeland Austria is especially criticized by people. Homeland refers not only to the real homeland, but also refers to people's cognitive status and some kind of metaphor for man's spiritual pursuit. The discord between the authors and the real homelands exposes their essential desire and the pursuit of spiritual homes.Elfriede Jelinek constantly reminds the world to concern about the homeland's ills out of literary conscience. Language is her powerful weapon and the way to show the life processes. Half-Jewish descent, and early death of his father, are the pains of her life, but inspire her tireless writing.The paper is divided into three parts to describe Jelinek's homeland complex:The first part discusses the relationship between Jelinek and real home Austria. By exposing the political hypocrisy of the government and presenting the nature's true side, we can see Jelinek's desire to pursue the truth with literary conscience and spirit. In addition, the topic of severe Austrian cultural censure leads to another cultural factor: the male chauvinism. Understanding of marginalized status of women and exposing the truth behind the false appearance, are the writer's real hope to fairness, justice and harmony.The second part discusses Jelinek's cognitive basis of homeland complex. From the topic of Nazi Heidegger's transited to national "Authenticity", in which language is an important way out. Language is the base for thoughts and poem. Language carries culture, however, transcends culture.Wittgenstein affected the 20th century Austrian Literature. "Language of the image" and "language games", correspond to Jelinek's literary language experiments, carry the Austrian literary tradition, thus make her literary influencing the world.The third part discusses the inner psychological motivation of Jelinek's homeland complex. Father image carries the author's understanding of male chauvinist culture. The father's Jewish identity, gradually disappearing of language in the process of life, connect to the important element of her homeland complex : the absence of father image. These are the basis to form the different understandings of her father in different phase which are projected onto the cultural elements of her works, constituting unique personal experience of the homeland complex.The value of this paper is to get to know Jelinek's writings and life through homeland complex, the universal human emotion, in order to seek inspiration of life. Homeland is not only connected to a geographic location, but embraces more about humanism significance.