Theatergoers are certain to be shocked by a performance of a Peter Handke play. They may find themselves doing the acting while being cursed from the stage, or they may be subjected to hours of sweet, soporific philosophizing. They may "see" a play that is only words, or they may experience a play without a single word. They may hear mumbled and mixed-up lines meant to elicit subconscious responses, or Handke may give them crystalline oratory. The play may end with a capitalist smashing his head against a rock or with a goddess proclaiming a gentle new age. The play may claim to present no images, or it may be absolutely allegorical. But if the forms cannot be anticipated, the themes remain fairly constant. Handke's plays are all concerned with theater itself, whether by attacking or repeating theatrical conventions; and they all consider language as it enables and...