Abstract
In this haunting suite of three fictions, Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke cements his reputation as one of the most talented writers of the twentieth century. In "The Long Way Around," a European scientist in Alaska finds himself in isolated "places and spaces" that are disturbed when he relocates to California, a disruption that ultimately drives him back home. "The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire" follows an autobiographical narrator to Provence, to the mountain that fascinated Cézanne, on a quest to restore his sense of self and revitalize his craft. Finally, "Child Story" reveals a crack in one man's feelings of isolation through a father's reflections on his developing love for his daughter in the first ten years of her life.