Elfriede Jelinek

Elfriede Jelinek studied at the Vienna Conservatory and the University of Vienna. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature; due to her agoraphobia she submitted a prerecorded acceptance speech rather than attend in person. “Language, which in motion, in speaking, appeared to be a safe shelter, turns against me,” she said. “No wonder. I mistrusted it immediately, after all. What kind of camouflage is that, which exists not to make one invisible, but ever more distinct?”