The goalie's fear at the penalty kick (narration)
The goalie's fear at the penalty kick is a story by the Austrian writer Peter Handke from 1970.
action
Handke tells the story of the mechanic and well-known former soccer goalie Josef Bloch, who gives up his work on a construction site on a Friday morning after having the impression that he has been dismissed. Over the weekend, he roams the city of Vienna and makes contact with the box office, Gerda, whom he strangles after their first night together. Bloch then takes the bus to a “southern border town”, where he visits a former friend without coming to rest. Here, too, he is constantly on the move, while at the same time he is chasing after him, more and more by chance, that the police are on his trail and that the net is tightening around him - Bloch tries to convict himself. The narration ends before he is arrested.
Analysis and interpretation
The unstructured text is held in the third person, but always adopts Bloch's personal perspective, at the same time keeping a distance and narrating from within. Bloch has symptoms that are similar to those of a psychosis . For example, he is repeatedly disturbed by his perceptions, has to constantly interpret everything - and at the same time is protected by the narrator from the interpreter: "Without wanting to express anything, he bowed his head."
The relation of the story to the title remains unclear for a long time, is only mentioned in one section and only explained in one sentence. Bloch's past as a goalkeeper, without going into detail, is essential for this. In contrast, the mention of a soccer game that he watches on his weekend in Vienna is insignificant. The only central point is the conclusion that Bloch makes for himself and which is in complete contrast to his constant urge to move: the shooter only shoots the ball into the hands of the goalkeeper who is completely calm.
filming
There is a film of the same name from 1971/1972. Directed by Wim Wenders and the main role was played by Arthur Brauss .
literature
- WG Sebald, Under the Mirror of Water - Peter Handke's story about the fear of the goalie ; in: The description of the misfortune , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1994. ISBN 3-596-12151-5 .
Others
The title has become a winged word in football , but always with the addition that it is actually the shooter who feels fear when shooting a penalty.