Thomas Bernhard

[Mirabell]

Thomas bernhard should have gotten the Nobel Prize.

He is one of the best 20th century writers in the german language (He's austrian).

He wrote about 15-20 plays, 10 novels, lots of poetry and lots of shorter prose.

he is a difficult writer. his novels are often bleak, sometimes aggressively so. they are also very funny, but few people see them as seeing funny. his characters are devoid of hope, usually they are artists in conflict with themselves and the bourgeois world. he has been attacked (and sued) for defamation of Austria. people (including the then president of Austria) claimed that Bernhard, especially in his play Heldenplatz and the magisterial novel Extinction dirtied Austria's reputation.

He's one of the most amazing writers I've ever read.

His best novels are:

Frost, his first and bleakest novel

Correction, one of his books on Wittgenstein, a difficult read.

Extinction, his last and longest novel (probably also his funniest)


His best plays are difficult to name, as in English only three plays of Bernhard are in print, Histrionics: Three Plays . However, contained in that volume is one of his best plays, A Party for Boris.


Sadly, Bernhard has never had the recognition in Germany and Austria that he deserved, but people as diverse as italo calvino, john updike and george steiner have hailed him as a genius. And they were right.

[Mirabell]

here

an oldish essay of mine
on Frost and Auslöschung

[nnyhav]

I'd add Concrete to his best, myself (quite agree about Correction and Extinction). And Wittgenstein's Nephew and Old Masters are very good, The Loser and The Voice Imitator less so. Frost I haven't yet read, only recently Englished; I've been hesitant about the early Bernhard. (As I had been about the late.)

You might be interested in an essay from The Believer a year ago.

[Mirabell]

Frost is amazing. The Loser, well, I had to train my ear to like it. can't say how it is englished, but in German it's full of "..., X said"- type sentences, even more than in hos other novels, loads of passages in indirect speech, it was maddening. I needed to reread it to see how uniquely musical that novel was/is. M. Majistral noticed it the first time around (see links in the Frost thread), I was impressed by that. Holzfällen (Cutting wood?) is very very good, too, I'd count it among his best five novels.

And then Bernhard is a very very good playwright, too. You can't go wrong, pick any play. The first four plays are pure genius and the last, Heldenplatz is possibly the best play about Austria and the Third Reich,, and a bitter, but brilliant play. I love it to death.

[nnyhav]

via RSB, on the twentiversary of his demise:
This Space: "my then completely empty house"

[john h]

For my money, his best novels are "The Limeworks" and "Concrete". "The Woodcutters" is also very good.

As far as him being funny... Well, I don't know about that. I personally have never seen much in his stuff that would make me laugh. "The Woodcutters" seems to have a lighter tone than any of his other stuff I've read. It's certainly his most human book.

All in all though, I find him very impressive.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by john h

For my money, his best novels are "The Limeworks" and "Concrete". "The Woodcutters" is also very good.

As far as him being funny... Well, I don't know about that. I personally have never seen much in his stuff that would make me laugh. "The Woodcutters" seems to have a lighter tone than any of his other stuff I've read. It's certainly his most human book.

All in all though, I find him very impressive.

I think he's extremely funny, sometimes more overtly so, as in the Woodcutters or in Alte Meister (old masters?) or even in Extinction, and especially in many of his plays, often his humor is more subtle, I admit. And he can fit a heavy tone with quite a bit of humor in his work.

[john h]

Okay, I'll admit it, Bernhard can be amusing at times as he is in "Old Masters" and a little bit in "The Woodcutters". But funny may be overstating it.

It's actually been a long time since I read him and maybe that's why I've forgotten about his occasional humorous edge. The dominant impression I was left with had much more to do with his handling of difficult subjects--suicide, madness, etc. That, and the sheer relentlessness of his prose. He repeats himself (intentionally), hammering away at his themes and there is undeniable power in his writing. His novels are definitely not for the faint of heart.

[saliotthomas]

I read the Looser(in French le Naufargé is closest to the idea in the book,in germain?help).The plot is promising,three piano virtuaso spend weeks with a famous teacher near salsbourg.One of them is Glen gould,the two others will give up music,crushed by the enormity of genius.
It's full of orginal ideas and atmospheres but the style of unbearable.The hammering of repetitions,up to 10 times in a page the sentence "thought i" or "he said,thought i".It's like having a fascinating story told by a madman or a guy with a stammer.
Each time i putted the book down having enough,a new turn would bring me back to the story.Like when Gould we imagine as weakling on his piano,get out of the house,grab an ax and cut a tree that bothered him to play.He trun out to be more on the athletic side.
Nothing is obvious and i loved that.
Still the style is a pure pain in the rear.(if i may)
But deffenetly Berhnard is heavyweight,and Thomas is such a nice name.

[nnyhav]

vintage Bernhard

[e joseph]

Only halfway through Frost (my first attempt at Bernhard) but I'm bored so I thought I'd post. And smitten with Frost. You're spot on Mirabell, Frost is fantastic. Bleak and witty, what's not to like?

It's also nice to be in the midst of reading Thomas Bernhard whilst the forum is catching and sharing Nobel fever; he didn't receive it, and I'd guess he couldn't have cared less, yet folks here seem agreed that he's one of the finer writers of last century. Take that Nobel hoopla.

P.S. This is not an invitation to discuss writers who "should have gotten it". Please. Seriously.

[Daniel del Real]

I just picked up a Bernhard novel called Verstörung, translated Gargoyles (don't know why this translation, I think it's better the one for Spanish as Transtorno). This is also my first trip to Bernhard. Anyone has read this novel? It is one of the early ones for him. Any comments please let me know.

[Mirabell]

One of my favorite writers. Verstörung is excellent. Not one of his best books but with a writer like him that doesn't say much.

[john h]

No, "Gargoyles" isn't one of his best. He hadn't quite found himself at that point. It lacks a dramatic structure. Much better is "The Lime Works" if you can ever find a copy. That and "Concrete" are my two favorites of his although I haven't read "Frost" which everyone seems to like.

[Daniel del Real]

Thanks a lot. I'll read this one to get any idea of what Bernhard is like and then I'll try to get Frost.