“Mistresses” (1975) is one of the best works of the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (b. 1946). This is an extremely tough and objective story about two women’s destinies in the modern world. The most famous modern writer in Europe, the infamous 2004 Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek throws her works into the world’s face, but the world does not feel offended, “this is not about me “- everyone says... Dissecting a sanctimonious society where consumer values are mixed with patriarchal traditions and where “respectability” directly depends on what things you own, Jelinek paints two opposite destinies. Brigitte and Paula are two girls, one from the city, the other from the country, but for both, love, family and sex are just means to make their way in life, a life in which each of them will have high purchasing power. Recognizable reality: there are many “idyls” around, inhabited by characters from this book, “idyls without prospects,” with a church in the center of the town and a lingerie factory, the director of which is the master of this world.