VIENNA (AFP) — The Austrian national library said Monday it has acquired handwritten manuscripts, notes and work papers of the avant-garde Austrian writer Peter Handke for 500,000 euros (722,000 dollars).
The papers, acquired directly from the author himself -- who lives in France -- comprised several thousand papers dating back 20 years, including the manuscripts of a number of novels and plays, the library said.
The purchase was both a way of supporting "one of Europe's great poets, as well as laying the foundation for an exhaustive centre of Handke research," culture minister Claudia Schmied told a new conference.
The Austrian culture ministry is helping to finance the acquisition.
"I'm happy that my manuscripts are now safe," joked Handke in a video message.
Considered one of the most important writers of his generation, Peter Handke was born in 1941 in Griffen, in the state of Carinthia in southern Austria. He has lived in Chaville, near Paris, since 1991.
Even though his home country paid homage to Handke, celebrating his 65th birthday on December 6, the writer has never expressed any intention of returning to Austria to work.
"At least in the form of his writings, Peter Handke has come back to Austria," said the national library's director Johanna Rachinger.
Long regarded as an "enfant terrible" of Austrian letters, Peter Handke stirred even deeper controversy in recent years by supporting former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
His attendence at Milosevic's funeral on March 18, 2006, and public remarks he made there led the Comedie Francaise in Paris to pull a planned production of one his works there this year.
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