Prozu Handke obedinyaet odna mysl: bessmyslennoe, bezduhovnoe suschestvovanie protivno chelovecheskoy prirode. Ego geroi perezhivayut ostreyshiy vnutrenniy razlad s samimi soboy i s okruzhayuschim mirom, ne pozvolyayut sebe oschutit "blazhenstvo zhizni bez sudorog i straha".
"Korotkoe pismo k dolgomu proschaniyu" — hronika puteshestviya molodogo pisatelya, perezhivayuschego tyazheleyshiy duhovnyy...