Noch einmal für Thukydides is quintessential Handke. It perfectly exemplifies his style.

I suppose the book could be classified as "Travel" but could equally well be considered as "Essays". Each piece, however, is very short, ranging from just a page and a half to a few pages. Sometimes the term "vignettes" is used for these short pieces of writing.

Each piece consists of some observations, usually a stilled focusing on nature, or landscape. There are moments in former Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain and as far away as Japan.

Peter Handke's writing style is stilled, which can calm you down, if you have the patience to follow his pace and look at each detail he describes. All these short vignettes are very detailed descriptions of nature. The leisurely style translates into reading ease, making for a pleasant leisurely reading experience. The prose is very beautiful.

In the early novels and essays the observational technique is applied to nature, as in Die langsame Heimkehr as well as social life. In the later works, the nature observations appear as gems embedded in the text, for example in Lucie im Wald mit den Dingsda and Versuch über den Stillen Ort.

In Noch einmal für Thukydides the nature observations are the main thing, in their purest form. Highly recommended especially to readers new to Peter Handke. ( )

Spunti, minuzie su cui Handke costruisce piccoli capolavori. Due farfalle in un campo, un lustrascarpe giapponese...pezzi di vita vissuti, raccolti e poi elaborati nella classica prosa dell'austriaco.
Un divertissement. ( )