The Piano Teacher Quotes
"The baby was born after long and difficult years of marriage. Her father promptly left, passing the torch to his daughter."
"Mother wants to save now in order to enjoy someday."
"A child has no secrets from her mother."
"Nothing offers so much pleasure as a magnificent performance by the finest virtuosi."
"Time around Erika is slowly turning into a plaster cast."
"Mother says: Erika suits me just fine the way she is. Nothing more will come of her."
"But that vanity of hers, that wretched vanity. Erika’s vanity is a major problem for her mother."
"She is pulled into streetcars by the weight of musical instruments."
"Erika, as always the well-groomed teacher, has no regrets about leaving her musical headquarters today."
"Erika’s pocketbook, which she carries along with her music case, is stuffed with coins."
"In the neighboring cells, the thrusting, jerking pumps discharge their precious freight."
"Erika looks. The object of her peeping thrusts her hand between her thighs and shows her pleasure by forming a tiny O with her mouth."
"Erika watches very closely. Not in order to learn. Nothing stirs or moves within her. But she has to watch all the same."
"A dragon lady with dyed red hair now thrusts her chubby backside into view."
"Erika has reached her limit. You have to know when to stop."
"Icy streams of neon light roar through ice-cream parlors, through dance halls."
"SHE only has to glance at this scene, and HER face instantly becomes disapproving."
"The piano keys begin to sing under fingers."
"A world opens up to HER, a world whose existence no one else even suspects."
"The very private chamber concert for voluntary listeners takes place in an old patrician apartment on the Danube Canal."
"The crowd, shanghaied from a dung heap and sporting such ugly colors, now scrutinizes Erika."
"Walter Klemmer strides over and helps his piano teacher into her winter coat with the fox collar."
"The child, whose talent is discussed for miles around, falls."
"Right outside her building door, Erika K. was expected by the wide-open world, which insisted on accompanying her."
"Erika cleans herself by patting herself."
"The student resolves never again to be caught in front of the photograph of a naked woman."
"Mother sits in the kitchen: a percolator, dripping her orders about."
"Erika keeps exerting self-control until she feels no more drive within her."
"Each urgently needs the other. With the help of tricks and feats, each can hog the limelight amid the oompah-oompah of the band and puff himself up like a bullfrog."
"Pain itself is merely a consequence of the desire for pleasure, the desire to destroy, to annihilate; in its supreme form, pain is a variety of pleasure."
"The man greedily hoards orgasms until finally, bathed in sweat, he remains lying where he first started out."
"The man must often feel (Erika thinks) that the woman must be hiding something crucial in that chaos of her organs."
"She doesn’t want to remember even a speck of dust on his shoes. She yearns for a long, intimate embrace, so that, once the embrace is over, this marvelous woman can regally push him away."
"The domestic delight of dinner, inadvertently delayed, is a black hole for the star known as Erika."
"You’re playing much too fast and also much too loud, Herr Klemmer, and you’re merely proving that the absence of the spiritual in an interpretation can cause terrible lacunae."
"Erika Kohut’s one hand has been playing the keyboard of reason, the other the keyboard of passion."
"Everyone can tell instantly that Klemmer is a musical victim, not a musical parasite."
"Erika thinks: If Klemmer wants to sink that low, then let him. But I won’t accompany him."
"Since Klemmer diagnoses his attachment to Erika as affection, he again decides not to give up."
"Erika plays the simple piano part mechanically. Her thoughts drift far afield."
"The violins weren’t mellow enough for him. Once again from the fifth measure, please."
"She is a favorite pupil of Professor Kohut because she too has a mother who adopted an ambition as her own child."
"Mother and daughter have been looking forward to it since last Friday when the TV schedule came out."
"Erika doesn’t know whether she can rely on Klemmer’s constant protests that he has never shied away from any risk."
"The two of them will go to where the forest is densest, they will settle down on moss cushions and have a picnic."
"Mother will declare her love for Erika, which should excuse any possible mistakes that Mother might make."
"The apartment quakes under the blaring fanfare of the Last Judgment, announcing the evening news."
"Mother turns off the sound, but nothing stirs beyond the door."
"Erika indicates that she wants to be loved only after trials and tribulations."
"Klemmer paints a Utopian partnership with Erika, spiced with loving emotions."
"Mother turns the volume up so high that the neighbors are sure to complain."
"Mother is terrified that her daughter, behind the door, is listening only to her body, which may now be blossoming under someone’s touch."
"For Mother, togetherness with her daughter is the spice of TV watching."
"Mother goes over to the poison cabinet in the parlor."
"Mother drinks a liqueur, then several more. The liqueur makes her feel weary and heavy."
"Walter Klemmer readily yields to his wish to pounce on Erika."
"Erika’s letter says she wants to be dimmed out under him, snuffed out."
"Klemmer would like to get out of this apartment, which has become a trap."
"Erika asks Herr Klemmer to come closer while she will be dressed only in a black nylon slip and stockings!"
"Erika doesn’t speak; she writes that her dull-minded herd of piano students may ask for explanations, but they won’t receive any."
"The athletic torment he takes upon himself is a different matter: He’s the only one who suffers it."
"Klemmer says no, the whole business should stop."
"Erika expands her suggestions: We have to get a lock or some kind of device for this door!"
"Klemmer reads a written sentence that allows him to establish punishments for Erika as he sees fit."
"Erika looks at the man. She was once a child, she will never be a child again."
"Klemmer embraces the unfeeling bureau with all the strength he can muster."
"Mother, in her half of the bed, is snoring away, under the influence of unwonted alcohol."
"Erika reaches for her domestic treasure chest and goes through the rich contents."
"Walter Klemmer is astonished at this woman, for she dares to do what others merely promise."
"Walter Klemmer stands in the entranceway, wondering how far he would go."
"Erika Kohut sleeps a fitful sleep of the just next to Mother, who has often treated her unjustly, yet calmly dreams away."
"We always expect rewards for our accomplishments. We believe that other people's accomplishments do not have to be rewarded."
"Erika expects him at least to say he's sorry, if not more."
"She is glad Mother can't butt in. At last, Erika can deal privately with private things."
"If male willpower can actually lead her away from her tried-and-true mother, then her work has been a success."
"A person who doesn't speak could easily be thinking."
"The sun rises over dusty wastes. Red washes the building fronts. Trees have covered themselves with green."
"What's happening to you? The daughter tells her everything's all right. Everything's being taken care of."
"A gap yawns in Erika's shoulder; tender tissue has divided unresistingly."
"Erika knows the direction she has to take. She heads home, gradually quickening her step."