Hauser recounts five decades of friendship with Peter Handke

Valentin Hauser’s new book looks back on more than five decades of friendship with Nobel Prize-winning writer Peter Handke, ORF reports. “Ein Stück des Weges, mit meinem Freund Peter Handke” will be published on 2 October.

Hauser says the book is about Handke the friend, rather than the Nobel laureate. It shares private encounters and anecdotes that have not appeared in literary biographies, and includes more than 90 previously unpublished photographs.

The friendship began when Hauser played trumpet with the Griffner Buam, a music group. Handke was impressed by the young musician, and the two kept meeting when Handke returned to Griffen. Hauser is known locally as a musician, a former municipal office head and a chronicler of the region and its crime stories. He also helped run a large Handke exhibition at Griffen Abbey.

Among the stories Hauser recounts is an encounter outside a country inn. A woman recognised Hauser and mentioned having read his books about the Saualm and murderers. When the innkeeper pointed out that the person beside Hauser was also a writer, the woman recognised that person too and asked what he wrote.