Handke’s prose is boring. It is boring in the way Sally Rooney is not boring. Handke does not have a storyline, there is no action, no drama, no tragedy, no climax. There is no plot, only a suggestion of an image that he is trying to describe. I do not know if novels can be descriptions of images. I don’t even know if people want to read other people describe images they have either seen or conjured up in fantasy. Why would I want to read a picture through words than look at it through my own eyes? And why on earth would I want to read an experience while I could have—there is always possibility—experienced it myself?
I can think of a few reasons:
1. You think communication is just one among the many functions of language.
2. You want to see what some of these other functions are.
3. You want to see where communication fails in the usual sense of the term.
4. You want to see the world without imposing yourself on the world.
5. You want to be friends with the world.
6. You want to be able to be entertained by the world.
7. You believe that not everything is/has a story.
8. Sometimes you just want to see things clearly, even if it means a long waiting period.
9. You think that one moment of clear vision is better than an entire novel worth of events.
10. You want to see the other side of reading.