The Piano Teacher. Elfriede Jelinek

Controversial, modern, and unafraid to look the reader straight in the eye, "Serpent's Tail Classics" are books for life. This is the most famous work by Nobel Prize winning author - now a "Serpent's Tail Classic". A haunting tale of morbid voyeurism and masochism, "The Piano Teacher" is one of the greatest contemporary European novels. Erika Kohut teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory by day. But by night she trawls the porn shows of Vienna while her mother, whom she loves and hates in equal measure, waits up for her. Into this emotional pressure-cooker bounds music student and ladies' man, Walter Klemmer. With Walter as her student, Erika spirals out of control, consumed by the ecstacy of self-destruction. First published in 1983, "The Piano Teacher" is Elfriede Jelinek's masterpiece.