In a quaint Austrian ski resort, things are not quite what they seem. Hermann, the manager of a paper mill, has decided that sexual gratification begins at home. Which means Gerti - his wife and property. Gerti is not asked how she feels about the use Hermann puts her to. She is a receptacle into which Hermann pours his juices, nastily, briefly, brutally. The long-suffering and battered Gerti thinks she has found her saviour and love in Michael, a student who rescues her after a day of vigorous use by her husband. But Michael is on his way up the Austrian political ladder, and he is, after all, a man.

Greed is the story of Kurt Janisch, an ambitious but frustrated country policeman, and the lonely women he seduces. It is a thriller set amid the mountains and small towns of southern Austria, where the investigation of a dead girl’s body in a lake leads to the discovery of more than a single crime. In
her signature style, Jelinek chronicles the exploitative nature of relations between men and women, and the cruelties of everyday life.

◎2004年諾貝爾文學獎得主艾芙烈‧葉利尼克（Elfriede Jelinek）作品。
故事的背景在奧地利山上的滑雪勝地，事情並不是像人們所看到的美景一樣。
集威嚴權力於一身的赫爾曼是紙品製造廠的廠長，他堅信家庭的歡愉是來自於性愛的滿足。他的太太格蒂是他的所有物。
她從來沒有被問過，當她的先生強行進入她的體內時，她的感覺是如何？
她就像是一個容器，讓丈夫很淫穢、很容易、很殘暴地宣洩他的精力到她的體內。
在如此長期的忍耐和摧殘之下，格蒂來到奧地利的山上，在這裡遇見了年輕的男子－－米歇雅爾，她以為找到生命中的救世主，甚至把真誠的愛獻給他。不過這位男子卻無法拯救她婚姻中所遭遇的苦痛，反而極盡騙子之能事，誘姦和侮辱了她。
愛和性的距離，如同從阿爾卑斯山到地中海那樣的遙遠，
情慾像一部深不可測的感官電影，在你面前赤裸上演。
艾芙烈．葉利尼克在書中所描述的愛和性的距離，就如同從阿爾卑斯山到地中海，妻子這個角色只是一個每天供丈夫發洩慾望的機器，而小孩也因為缺乏愛，變成令人厭惡的討厭鬼。就悲觀主義的人而言，肉慾就像是色情猥褻的電影一樣。
這是一本風靡整個歐洲的暢銷書。肉慾的描寫證實了艾芙烈．葉利尼克是個深具潛力與挑戰性的作家。特別是描述歐洲當今男人和女人的肉慾關係，那是神祕，也是令人目眩的表現手法。

《米夏埃尔:一部写给幼稚社会的青年读物》内容简介：电视观众们看到这里说不出的高兴，至少他们看起来比洛加尔斯基太太知道得多。一位电视观众对另一位说：注意，有事情要发生了！当洛加尔斯基太太第二次按门铃而里面毫无动静时，四五位其他电视观众或者两三百万其他电视观众对他们的妻子、朋友或孩子们说了：注意，有事情要发生了！
可是洛加尔斯基太太还一直没有起任何疑心。我们大家齐声狂喊：有事情发生了，洛加尔斯基太太！但她还一无所闻。洛加尔斯基太太打开了没有关好的花园的门，走向住房。门关着。毫无动静。现在一切都清楚了，洛加尔斯基太太甚至愣住了（愣住了）。

布莉姬與寶拉逃離原有生活的唯一方式，就是尋得一個可以給她們房子與寶寶--也就是幸福--的男人。

布莉姬放下愛情，用盡心力爭取有前途的男人海因茲，最終獲得想要的「幸福生活」。

寶拉追求愛情，卻在愛情中遺失了夢想，終遭命運打落在地。

本書敘述兩位陷入情網的少女，她們的夢想就是尋一個男人，結婚生子，脫離原來的生活。這兩個女人一名自私一名愚蠢。蠢女孩追求愛情，夢想和白馬王子共組溫馨家庭，養可愛的娃娃，擁有自己的房子，結果她卻淪為私娼。自私的女孩比較實際，她用盡心機爭取想要的男人，終於得到了她想要的家，從此過著幸福生活－－一種無聊冷酷的幸福。

諾貝爾獎委員會：「艾芙烈·葉利尼克獲頒諾貝爾文學獎，是因為她在小說與劇作中，使用語音與反語音，美如音樂的流動，再加上超群的語文熱忱，來揭露社會老套因循的荒謬，以及它們壓抑人的力量。」

《歐洲人報》(The European)：「誠如湯瑪斯·柏恩哈德(Thomas Bernhard)以及世紀之交的諷刺文大家卡爾·克勞斯(Karl Kraus)，葉利尼克隸屬一長列奧地利文學圈外人之一，他們時而不留情地諷刺自己本土布爾喬亞文化的偽善，向來能牢牢地抓住既有社會體系的核心，被視為珍貴的範例，顯示出奧地利恆久而優越的藝術表現。」

《克科斯評論》（Kirkus Reviews）：「清冷而真實地洞見女人在金錢與男人主宰的社會中，岌岌可危的地位。」

The most popular work from provocative Austrian Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher is a searing portrait of a woman bound between a repressive society and her darkest desires. Erika Kohut is a piano teacher at the prestigious and formal Vienna Conservatory, who still lives with her domineering and possessive mother. Her life appears boring, but Erika, a quiet thirty-eight-year-old, secretly visits Turkish peep shows at night and watched sadomasochistic films. Meanwhile, a handsome, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old student has become enamored with Erika and sets out to seduce her. She resists him at first--but then the dark passions roiling under the piano teacher's subdued exterior explode in a release of perversity, violence, and degradation.

The setting is an idyllic Alpine village where a woman's underwear factory nestles in the woods. Two factory workers, Brigitte and Paula, dream and talk about finding happiness, a comfortable home and a good man. They realize that their quest will be as hard as work at the factory. Brigitte subordinates her feelings and goes for Heinz, a young, plump, up-and-coming businessman. With Paula, feelings and dreams become confused. She gets pregnant by Erich, the forestry worker. He's handsome, so they marry. Brigitte gets it right. Paula gets it wrong. Using the conventions and language of romantic fiction, Elfriede Jelinek has written a moving tragedy whose power lies in its refusal to take at face value its characters' dreams and aspirations.