Submitted as material for Laura Latifa

G-12 Lyceum course final examinations

An Analysis of The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek: Transitional

The novel tells of the relationships of Erika Kohut, our titular piano teacher. Erika, after
failing to become a concert pianist, is bound to her extremely prideful and controlling mother,
with whom she has a turbulent relationship. Erika is taught to swear off men and vanity by her
mother and consequently becomes sexually and emotionally repressed. She engages in acts of
voyeurism and sadomasochism, all the while maintaining the façade of a sophisticated and aloof
piano instructor at work. A younger student, Walter Klemmer, becomes entranced by Erika and
after some time and trouble, manages to seduce her. All seems ‘well’ until Erika sends Walter a
letter explicitly detailing the abnormal sexual acts she desires, at which point Walter becomes
repulsed. The dynamic shifts – Erika now grovels for Walter to come back, only for him to
continue the affair with indifference and disgust in lieu of his past adoration. In the end, Erika is
once again alone with only her mother.
Jelinek writes the devastating story in long, unfiltered stretches of Erika’s stream of
consciousness – we are told with seamless transition the minutest things she does, observes and
thinks. This style of writing is instrumental in the delivery of the story. It is not merely, as some
critics deem, purple prose. For one, it allows readers to somehow make sense of Erika’s wants
and motivations in spite of her characteristic perversity. I believe this element of transition is also
used by Jelinek to depict the development of individual anomie in Erika’s character.
Before making the case, it is necessary to define anomie as used in this essay. Anomie is
a functionalist concept stemming from the work of Emile Durkheim, On Suicide. At its most
basic, anomie is used to refer to normlessness, a social deregulation due to the absence of or
detachment from norms due to poor socialization and/or rapid changes in society (Gerber, J.,
2010). Anomie can refer to either a societal condition or an individual disorder (Oxford
Dictionary of Current English, retrieved 2002). In this essay, I use these definitions along with
three points from On Suicide to diagnose the development of individual anomie in Erika:

“[In the world of trade and industry] The real seems worthless beside what is seen
as possible by feverish imaginations, so they detach themselves from it, only later
to detach themselves from the possible when that becomes real in its turn.” (279)
“[In this newfound consumerism] What has happened is that the appetites that it
arouses have been freed from any authority that might restrain them. By as it were
sanctifying these appetites, the apotheosis of well-being has been freed from any
authority that might restrain them.” (280)
“…one does not advance when one proceeds toward no goal, or—which is the
same thing—when the goal is infinity. To pursue a goal which is by definition
unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.” (281).
Submitted as material for Laura Latifa
G-12 Lyceum course final examinations

Anomie develops within Erika’s character when a change occurs in who is ‘in
charge’ in her life and what she must do to please the authority.
Throughout her life, this domineering figure has always been her mother, as is evident.
During Erika’s youth, her mother ‘[swathes her] in daily duties like an Egyptian mummy’. Even
as an adult, Erika is subject to a curfew, constant monitoring and a stringent dress code. Here,
Erika’s role is to submit and worse yet, submission in her mother’s terms is humiliation and
undivided devotion to her job (or rather, to fiscally provide for her mother). This means Erika is
not allowed to distract herself with vanity and male attention, both of which she naturally craves.
These cravings become the basis of her many perverted acts and interestingly enough, is a
miniature state of anomie in of its own. Robert Merton writes in his essay on anomie theory:
“[anomie] is the conflict between [goals] and the availability of using institutional means,
whatever the character of the goals, which produces a strain toward anomie.” (Merton, R., 1938)
Another indication of anomie lies in his deviance typology, which assigns Erika the ‘innovator’
archetype – innovators tend to use socially deplorable methods and unconventional means to
achieve norm-approved goals (Merton, R., 1938).
The system is further ingrained into Erika given the utter isolation her mother subjects
her to. She distances Erika from other children, repeatedly expressing that Erika’s superiority
would be tainted otherwise. Additionally, she is the only parental figure in the family. The sick
self-projection by her mother is the only form of love she has ever experienced, and so this
becomes her sad incentive not to run away from the custom – she sleeps in her mother’s bed,
kisses her and professes her love moments after the two physically and verbally abuse each other
over Erika buying a bare-shouldered dress.
Her mother is a living reminder of the norms she ought to follow to obtain love and
Jelinek uses her signature transitional writing to convey this. More times than not Erika’s train of
thought leads back to yet another one of her mother’s sentiments. One of many such transitions
occurred when Erika noted the way herself watches a peep show with whole-hearted attention,
then recalled the time her mother told her that if she does anything half-heartedly, she is not a
worthy artist. This then branched into a three-page recollection of her oppressive childhood.
Another example, perhaps more relevant to the thesis, is when Erika receives praises for her
Schoenberg performance, only to vehemently decline the compliments. Proud of her reaction,
she recalls the time her mother says that accepting compliments is inherently brown-nosing.

In comes the character of Walter Klemmer, the to-be figure of new authority. He
embodies the more contemporary ‘manic pixie dream boy’ trope. Fittingly, his motive is
strangely atypical of the genre – to change his aloof and conservative professor into a cheerful
girl again, to leave a mark before theatrically leaving. He is the exact opposite of her mother,
strengthening the effects of the would-be change.

Walter does not immediately become Erika’s new tyrant but the dynamic between the
two, or in fact all of Erika’s relationships, is always that between martinet and serf. Following
Submitted as material for Laura Latifa
G-12 Lyceum course final examinations

the age-old norm set by her mother, Erika is unable to build a relationship without a severe
power imbalance. In the beginning, she holds power over Walter – she is the one who pushes and
pulls, the one who humiliates, punishes and sets boundaries. This brings about no change,
however, as Erika takes this position of power throughout her teaching career.

The shift only occurs when they finally consummate their relationship, an act of direct
deviance from Erika’s norms. This is the scalar rapid change in society brought about in the
definition of anomie: the change in authority. It harks back to the second point of diagnosis –
that Erika has been freed from the authority that restrains her appetites. In Jelinek’s writing,
Erika’s trains of thought now lead to Walter, rather than her mother – what would he think?
Would he like this? Would he like that?

To liken Erika’s case to Durkheim’s original analysis, she is a country newly plunged
into consumerism and materialism, delusional about all the supposed new possibilities. So far in
her life, her pleasures have come from pain and humiliation – her tormentor, after all, is her
‘loving’ mother. In private, she exercises these pleasures by indulging in genital mutilation,
grossly objectifying peep shows and watching couples. Perhaps also fuelled by yet another
societal change (emergence of pornography and free sex culture), Erika deludes herself with
these fantasies, thinking that Walter will be able to enjoy the same pleasures as her.
When Walter rejects her propositions, the first and third benchmarks of anomie apply.
Normal romantic and sexual exploits are rendered worthless by Erika’s feverish imaginations of
extreme sadomasochism. The second part also stands – Walter does technically commit these
acts on Erika, but at that point, she does not deem it pleasurable anymore. As for the third point,
Erika’s goals are at infinity given the conditions – she yearns for both a mythical, oxymoronic
painful pleasure and a genuinely loving companionship.
In conclusion, The Piano Teacher is an astute depiction of a condition that perpetuates
anomie as an individual disorder. (WC: 1500)

Citations
Durkheim, É. (1897) On Suicide. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Jelinek, E. (1983) The Piano Teacher. New York: Grove Press, 2009. Print.

Merton, Robert K. (1938). Social Structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review.
Oxford Dictionary of Current English. (2002) Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.