Thomas Bernhard

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Thomas Bernhard
BornNicolaas Thomas Bernhard
(1931-02-09)9 February 1931
Heerlen, Netherlands
Died12 February 1989(1989-02-12) (aged 58)
Gmunden, Austria
OccupationNovelist, playwright
NationalityAustrian
Period1957–1989
Literary movementPostmodernism
Notable worksCorrection
Extinction
Gathering Evidence
Woodcutters
Signature
Website
www.thomasbernhard.org

Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (German: [ˈtoːmas ˈbɛʁnhaʁt]; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, isolation, obsession and illness in controversial literature that was pessimistic about the human condition and highly critical of post-war Austrian and European culture. He developed a distinctive prose style often featuring multiple perspectives on characters and events, idiosyncratic vocabulary and punctuation, and long monologues by protagonists on the verge of insanity.

His major works include the novels Correction (1975) and Extinction (1986) and his memoirs Gathering Evidence (1975-82). George Steiner called him: "at his best, the foremost craftsman of German prose after Kafka and Musil."[1] He influenced a younger generation of Austrian writers including Elfriede Jelinek.

Bernhard was controversial in Austria for his public polemics against what he saw as his homeland's post-war cultural pretensions, antisemitism, provincialism and denial of its Nazi past. While critics labelled him a Nestbeschmutzer (one who dirties his own nest), he described himself as a Störenfried (troublemaker). The controversy extended beyond his death when it was revealed that his will sought to prohibit the publication or performance of his works in Austria for 70 years.

Life[edit]

Thomas Bernhard was born in 1931 in Heerlen in the Netherlands, where his unmarried mother Herta Bernhard worked as a maid. From the autumn of 1931 he lived with his grandparents in Vienna until 1937 when his mother, who had married in the meantime, moved him to Traunstein, Bavaria, in Nazi Germany. There he was required to join the Deutsches Jungvolk, a branch of the Hitler Youth, which he hated.[2] Bernhard's natural father Alois Zuckerstätter was a carpenter and petty criminal who refused to acknowledge his son.[2] Zuckerstätter died in Berlin from gas poisoning in an assumed suicide in 1940;[3] Bernhard never met him.

Bernhard's grandfather, the author Johannes Freumbichler [de], pushed for an artistic education for him, including musical instruction. Bernhard went to elementary school in Seekirchen and later attended various schools in Salzburg including the Johanneum which he left in 1947 to start an apprenticeship with a grocer. George Steiner describes Bernhard's schooling as "hideous... under a sadistically repressive system, run first by Catholic priests, then by Nazis".[4]

Bernhard's Lebensmensch (a predominantly Austrian term, which was coined by Bernhard himself[5] and which refers to the most important person in one's life) was Hedwig Stavianicek (1894–1984), a woman more than thirty-seven years his senior, whom he cared for alone in her dying days. He had met Stavianicek in 1950, the year of his mother's death and one year after the death of his beloved grandfather. Stavianicek was the major support in Bernhard's life and greatly furthered his literary career. The extent or nature of his relationships with women is obscure. Thomas Bernhard's public persona was asexual.[6] Suffering throughout his teens from lung ailments, including tuberculosis, Bernhard spent the years 1949 to 1951 at the Grafenhof sanatorium in Sankt Veit im Pongau. He trained as an actor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (1955–1957) and was always profoundly interested in music. His lung condition, however, made a career as a singer impossible. After that he worked briefly as a journalist, mainly as a crime reporter, and then became a full-time writer. In 1970, he won the Georg Büchner Prize.[7]

In 1978, Bernhard was diagnosed with sarcoidosis.[8] After a decade of needing constant medical care for his lungs, he died in 1989 in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Although there have been claims that he died by assisted suicide,[2] contemporaneous obituaries reported, and Bernhard's half-brother, Dr. Peter Fabjan, confirmed that Bernhard had a heart attack. His death was announced only after his funeral. In his will, which aroused great controversy on publication, Bernhard prohibited any new stagings of his plays and publication of his unpublished work in Austria; however, in 1999 this was annulled by his heir, Peter Fabjan.[3] Bernhard's attractive house in Ohlsdorf-Obernathal 2 where he had moved in 1965 is now a museum and centre for the study and performance of his work.

Themes and style[edit]

Bernhard in 1987

Themes[edit]

Bernhard's work presents a pessimistic view of the human condition in which death is an inescapable presence.[9][10] Critic Mark Anderson states, "death in his writing comes as a random, unjustifiable, but unavoidable cut in existence that cancels all previous hope and striving."[11] Literary critic Stephen Dowding states that in Berhard's fiction there is no redemption for man in religion, politics, art or history.[12]

The typical Bernhard protagonist is a middle-age male who, according to Dowden, is "self-absorbed, histrionically pessimistic, and motivated by a deep loathing of culture and self," but who is nevertheless "strangely charismatic because of the powerful musical language with which he expresses his inner life." His protagonists must "learn to live without recourse to metaphysical lies or utopian deceptions."[13]

Bernhard depicts a postwar Austria steeped in cultural pretensions, antisemitism, denial of its Nazi past and devotion to a morally bankrupt Catholicism.[14] Dowden argues that Austria is often used as a metaphor for the human condition. Just as Austrian history is a story of decline into insignificance, so human beings struggle pointlessly against death; just as Austria engages in self-deception regarding its past and its place in the world, so human beings engage in self-deceptions about the redemptive power of religion, family and culture.[15]

Recurring motifs in Bernhard's work include isolation, incest, madness, chronic illness and suicide.[16][17] Many of Bernhard's characters suffer from mental and physical illness which Dowden sees as metaphors for Bernhard's moral pessimism and the decline of European society and culture.[18] His protagonists are often engaged in failed intellectual and artistic projects in a futile and destructive attempt to achieve perfection and thus transcend death.[19]

In the face of inevitable death, Bernhard's characters often demonstrate a will to survive. Biographer Gitta Honegger states, "The Überlebenskünstler is Bernhard's central archetype: the survival artist as a virtuoso performance artist." Dowden argues that Bernhard's works also attest to a will to rebel against conformity and develop an independent self identity: "His entire oeuvre amounts to one unswerving experiment in thinking against the grain, in forcing the imagination to explore the parts of life it resists the most."[20]

Style[edit]

Bernhard developed a distinctive prose style which is often described as musical, emphasising the rhythms of Austrian German, repetition of key phrases, and variations on recognisable themes.[21] Anderson states that his prose works "all spring, or appear to spring, from the obsessive monologue going on inside Bernhard’s head, a continuous text uttered by a single droning voice that is endlessly reformulated, corrected, and filtered through a hundred different registers."[22] Honegger distinguishes between Bernhard's early prose which was characterised my multiple perspectives and stylistic experimentation and the late works beginning with Yes (1978) which she calls "concerts for a solo mind."[23]

Bernhard is known for his distinctive punctuation and vocabulary. Many of his works comprise a stream of long sentences, unbroken by any paragraph or chapter markings.[22] Honegger states: "His verbal inventions have entered the German vocabulary. His constructions of interminably interlocked clauses and sub-clauses stretch the German language to its limit."[24]

Bernhard's tone is often described as satirical, ironic, polemical and unsentimental.[25][26][27] Dowden argues that the extreme and often contradictory views of his protagonists invite the reader to detect ironies and read them as satires. Readers are not expected to accept or reject the opinions of Bernhard's protagonists but to engage with their "verbal struggle against death".[28]

Bernhard's pessimism is often undercut by comedy and black humour. According to Anderson: "The death narrative is always also the record of survival, a survival through a grotesquely jubilant, at times comic writing."[29] Dowden states that "comedy arises when people attempt to create meaning or convince themselves that the world holds something for them....[It is] an austere comedy of catastrophe, despair and mockery."[30]

Reception and legacy[edit]

Bernhard is widely considered one of the most important German-language writers of the second half of the 20th-century.[31][32][33] His poetry of the late 1950s received little critical attention but his first published novel Frost (1963) sparked controversy and divided critical opinion. Novelist Carl Zuckmayer praised the novel and it won the Julius Campe Prize and the Bremen Literature Prize.[34][35] In 1970, Bernhard received the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize for his novel The Lime Works (1970) and his play A Party for Boris (1970).[36]

Critics generally consider his major prose works to be Correction (1975),[37][38] Extinction (1986)[39] and his five volumes of memoirs (1975-82) (collected in English translation as Gathering Evidence.)[40] His most commercially successful novel was Woodcutters (1984) which sold 60,000 copies within six weeks of publication.[41]

Bernhard wrote 18 full-length plays, many of which premiered at leading German-language venues including the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Burgtheatre.[42] His plays polarised audiences and critics and often caused media and political controversy for their pessimism and polemics against Austrian and European culture and institutions.[42][43] According to Dowden: "His public was eager to see what powerful figure he would insult next, what enraged outcry he would elicit, who would try to sue him, and how he would respond."[44]

Honegger states that Bernhard's prose style has influenced the German language: "his performative grammar and incendiary vocabulary have been appropriated by politicians of all persuasions, exploited by the media, and imitated by lesser writers."[45] Bernhard has influenced younger Austrian writers including Elfriede Jelinek, Lilian Faschinger, Robert Menasse and Josef Haslinger.[46] His works have been translated into over 20 languages,[47] and Dagmar Lorenz states that he is one of the few Austrian authors that have won international acclaim.[48]

Although Bernhard stipulated in his will that none of his unpublished writings should be published, this has been sometimes been circumvented.[49] Notably, a memoir My Prizes appeared in 2009[50] and his correspondence with his publisher Siegfried Unseld from 1961 to 1989 – about 500 letters – was published in December 2009.[51] Bernhard's collected works were published in 22 volumes from 2003 to 2015.[52]

Bernhard's half-brother and literary executor, Peter Fabjan, is honorary secretary of the International Thomas Bernhard Society.[53] The Thomas Bernhard house in Ohlsdorf/Obernathal is open to the public.[54]

Awards[edit]

Bernhard received numerous awards in recognition for his work. These include:

  • Julius Campe Prize (1964) (Awarded for Frost)[55]
  • Bremen Literature Prize (1965) (Awarded for Frost)[55]
  • Literature Prize of the Federal Association of German Industry (1967)[56]
  • Förderungspreis für Literatur (Austrian Little State Prize for Literature) (1968)[57]
  • Anton Wildgans Prize (1969) (Awarded by the Austrian Association of Industrialists)[58]
  • Georg Büchner Prize (1970) (Awarded by the German Academy for Language and Literature for A Party for Boris and The Lime Works)[59]
  • Franz Theordor Csokor Prize (1972)[56]
  • Adolf Grimme Prize (1972)[56]
  • Grillparzer Prize (1972) (Awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the play A Party for Boris)[60]
  • Hannover Dramatists Prize (1974)[56]
  • Prix Séguier (1974)[56]
  • Literature Prize of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce (1976) (Awarded for Der Keller [The Cellar])[61]
  • Mondello Prize (Premio letterario internazionale Mondello Città di Palermo) (1983)[61]
  • Prix Médicis étranger (1988)[61]

Bibliography[edit]

This partial bibliography lists works by Bernhard by the date of their first publication in separate volumes in commercial editions. Plays are listed by the date of first publication or performance. English translations are listed by date of publication. Unless otherwise stated, the sources are Honneger,[62] Dowden,[63] the International Thomas Bernhard Society,[64] and the indivdual works listed.

Novels[edit]

Novellas and short story collections[edit]

  • Amras (1964). Translated by Peter Jansen (2003)
  • Prosa (1967). Prose, translated by Martin Chalmers (Seagull Books, 2010). Includes seven stories
  • Ungenach: Erzälung (1968). "Ungenach", translated by Douglas Robertson (2022)
  • An der Baumgrenze (1969). Includes: "An der Baumgrenze" (At the Timberline), "Der Kulturer" (Kulterer), and "Der Italiener" (The Italien)
  • Ereignisse (Events) (1969)
  • Watten. Ein Nachlaß (1969). Playing Watten, translated by Kenneth L. Northcott (2003)
  • Midland in Stilfs (1971). Includes three stories: "Midland in Stilfs", "Der Wetterfleck" (The Waterproof Cape), and "Am Ortler" (At the Ortler)
  • Gehen (1971). Walking, translated by Kenneth L. Northcott (2003)
  • Der Wetterfleck: Erzählungen (The Waterproof Cape: Tales) (1976)
  • Der Stimmenimitator [de] (1978). Translated by Craig Kinosian as The Voice Impersonator (1995) and by Kenneth Northcott as The Voice Imitator: 104 Stories (1997)[66]
  • Die Irren/Die Häftlinge (The Madmen/the Prisoners) (written 1962, published 1988)
  • Goethe schtirbt (2010). Goethe Dies, translated by James Reidel (Seagull Books, 2016).[67] Includes four stories from the early 1980s

Plays[edit]

  • Ein Fest für Boris (1968). A Party for Boris, translated by Peter Jansen and Thomas Northcott (1990)
  • Der Ignorant und der Wahnsinnige (1972). The Ignoramus and the Madman, translated by Douglas Robertson (2023)
  • Die Jagdgesellschaft (1974). The Hunting Party, translated by Gita Honegger (1980)[68]
  • Die Macht der Gewohnheit. Komödie (1974). The Force of Habit: A Comedy, translated by Neville and Stephen Plaice (1976)
  • Der Präsident (1975). The President
  • Die Berühmten (1976). The Celebrities, translated by Douglas Robertson (2023)
  • Minetti. Ein Portrait des Künstlers als alter Mann (1977). Minetti, translated by Gita Honegger (2000);[69] Tom Cairns and Peter Eyre (2014)
  • Immanuel Kant [de] (1978). Translated by Douglas Robertson (2023)
  • Der Weltverbesserer (1979). The World-Fixer, translated by Josef Glowa, Donald McManus and Susan Hurly-Glowa (2005)
  • Vor dem Ruhestand. Eine Komödie von deutscher Seele (1979). Eve of Retirement
  • Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (1981). Over All the Mountain Tops, translated by Michael Mitchell (2004)
  • Am Ziel (1981). Translated by Jan-Willem van den Bosch as Destination (2001) and by Douglas Robertson as The Goal Attained in Save Yourself If You Can (2023)
  • Der deutsche Mittagstisch (1981). The German Lunch Table, translated by Gita Honegger (1981)[70]
  • Der Schein trügt (1983). Appearances Are Deceiving, translated by Gita Honegger (1983)[71]
  • Der Theatermacher (1984). Histrionics, translated by Peter Jansen and Thomas Northcott (1990)
  • Ritter, Dene, Voss (1984). Translated by Peter Jansen and Thomas Northcott (1990)
  • Einfach kompliziert (1986). Simply Complicated, translated by Douglas Robertson (2023)
  • Elisabeth II (1987). Elizabeth II, translated by Meredith Oakes (1992), and Douglas Robertson (2023)
  • Heldenplatz (1988). Translated by Gita Honegger (1999)[72] as well as Andrea Tierney and Meredith Oakes (2010).
  • Claus Peymann kauft sich eine Hose und geht mit mir essen. Drei Dramolette (1990). Partially translated by Damion Searls (2008): Claus Peymann Buys Himself a Pair of Pants and Joins Me for Lunch.[73]

Poetry volumes[edit]

  • Auf der Erde und in der Hölle (1957). On Earth and in Hell: Early Poems, translated by Peter Waugh (Three Rooms Press, 2015).
  • In hora mortis (1958)
  • Unter dem Eisen des Mondes (1958). Under the Iron of the Moon.
  • Ave Vergil (1981). Poems written 1959 to 1960.

Autobiography[edit]

  • Die Ursache (1975). An Indication of the Cause. Translated by David McLintock (1985)
  • Der Keller (1976). The Cellar: An Escape. Translated by David McLintock (1985)
  • Der Atem (1978). Breath: A Decision. Translated by David McLintock (1985)
  • Die Kälte (1981). In the Cold. Translated by David McLintock (1985)
  • Ein Kind (1982). A Child. Translated by David McLintock (1985)

Miscellaneous[edit]

  • Rosen der Einöde (1959). (Roses of the Wasteland. Five pieces for ballet, voice and orchestra.)
  • Viktor Halbnarr. Ein Wintermärchen nicht nur für Kinder (1966). Victor Halfwit: A Winter's Tale, translated by Martin Chalmers (Seagull Books, 2011).
  • Der Italiener (1971). The Italian. (Film script and short story.)
  • Der Kulterer: Eine Filmgeschichte (1974) (Kulterer: A Film-story.)
  • Meine Preise (2009). My Prizes: An Accounting, translated by Carol Brown Janeway (2010).

Compilations in English[edit]

  • The President and Eve of Retirement (1982). Collects Der Präsident and Eve of Retirement; translated by Gitta Honegger
  • Gathering Evidence (1985, memoir). Collects Die Ursache (1975), Der Keller (1976), Der Atem (1978), Die Kälte (1981) and Ein Kind (1982); translated by David McLintock
  • Histrionics: Three Plays (1990). Collects A Party for Boris; Ritter, Dene, Voss; and Histrionics; translated by Peter Jansen and Kenneth Northcott[74]
  • Three Novellas (2003). Collects Amras, Playing Watten and Walking; translated by Peter Jansen and Kenneth J. Northcott
  • In Hora Mortis / Under the Iron of the Moon (2006, poetry). Collects In Hora Mortis (1958) and Unter dem Eisen des Mondes (1958); translated by James Reidel
  • Collected Poems (2017). Translated by James Reidel
  • The Rest Is Slander: Five Stories (2022). Collects "Ungenach" (1968), "The Weatherproof Cape" ("Der Wetterfleck", 1971), "Midland in Stilfs" (1971), "At the Ortler" ("Am Ortler", 1971), and "At the Timberline" ("An der Baumgrenze", 1969); translated by Douglas Robertson
  • Save Yourself If You Can: Six Plays (2023). Collects The Ignoramus and the Madman (1972), The Celebrities (1976), Immanuel Kant (1978), The Goal Attained (1981), Simply Complicated (1986), and Elizabeth II (1987); translated by Douglas Robertson

References[edit]

  1. ^ Steiner, George (2009). "Black Danube". George Steiner at the New Yorker. New Directions. p. 123. ISBN 9780811217040.
  2. ^ a b c Franklin, Ruth (18 December 2006). "The Art of Extinction". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Feature: Thomas Bernhard". Sydney Theatre Company. 24 June 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  4. ^ Tranter, Rhys (29 March 2016). "George Steiner on Thomas Bernhard". Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  5. ^ Honegger, Gitta. Thomas Bernhard: The Making of an Austrian. Yale University 2001, p. 59.
  6. ^ Honegger, Thomas Bernhard, pp. 61–63.
  7. ^ "Thomas Bernhard". Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  8. ^ Liam Hoare. "Thomas Bernhard was a 'demon', half-brother reveals in bestseller". The Guardian, 23 March 2021.
  9. ^ Dowden (1991), p. 4
  10. ^ Honegger (2001), p. xii
  11. ^ Mark M. Anderson "Fragments of a Deluge: The Theater of Thomas Bernhard’s Prose". in Konzett (2002), p. 121
  12. ^ Dowden (1991), p. xii
  13. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. xii, 16
  14. ^ Honegger (2001), pp. ix–xi
  15. ^ Dowden (1991), p. xii
  16. ^ Dowden (1991), p. 2
  17. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 320 note 2
  18. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 65–66
  19. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 61–63
  20. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 4, 53–54
  21. ^ Dowden (1991), p. 2
  22. ^ a b Mark M. Anderson, "Fragments of a Deluge: The Theater of Thomas Bernhard's Prose. In Konzett (2002), p. 120
  23. ^ Honegger (2001), pp. 189, 222, 227
  24. ^ Honegger, Gitta. "Language Speaks. Anglo-Bernhard: Thomas Bernhard in Translation." In Konzett (2002), p. 173
  25. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. vii, 8, 41
  26. ^ Honegger (2001), pp. 22, 248
  27. ^ Mark M. Anderson, "Fragments of a Deluge: The Theater of Thomas Bernhard's Prose." In Konzett (2002), pp. 131–33
  28. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 17–18, 20
  29. ^ Mark M. Anderson, "Fragments of a Deluge: The Theater of Thomas Bernhard's Prose." In Konzett (2002), p. 122
  30. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 4–5
  31. ^ Konzett, Matthias. "Introduction. National Iconoclasm: Thomas Bernhard and the Austrian Avant-garde." In Konzett (2002), p. 1
  32. ^ Dowden (1991), p. 1
  33. ^ Honegger (2001), p. xi
  34. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 14–15
  35. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 69
  36. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 111
  37. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 39
  38. ^ Franklin, Ruth (18 December 2006). "The Art of Extinction". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  39. ^ Honneger (2001), p. 175
  40. ^ Honegger (2001), p. xiii-xiv
  41. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 242
  42. ^ a b Dowden (1991), pp. 71–83
  43. ^ Lorenz, Dagmar. "The Established Outsider: Thomas Bernhard." In Konzett (2002), pp. 29–32
  44. ^ Dowden (1991), p. 73
  45. ^ Honegger (2001), p. xii
  46. ^ Anderson, Mark M. "Fragments of a Deluge: The Theater of Thomas Bernhard's Prose." In Konzett (2002), p. 133
  47. ^ Honegger (2001), p. xi
  48. ^ Lorenz, Dagmar. "The Established Outsider: Thomas Bernhard." In Konzett (2002), p. 29
  49. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 15
  50. ^ Bernhard, Thomas (2009). Meine Preise [My Prizes] (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Surhkamp Verlag. ISBN 9783518420553.
  51. ^ Der Briefwechsel Thomas Bernhard/Siegfried Unseld Archived 6 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Suhrkamp Verlag, 7 December 2009
  52. ^ "Thomas Bernhard Werke". Suhrkamp Verlag. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  53. ^ "Internationale Thomas Bernhard Gesellschaft". Internationale Thomas Bernhard Gesellschaft. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  54. ^ "The Bernhard House". Internationale Thomas Bernhard Gesellschaft.
  55. ^ a b Honegger (2001), pp. 69, 311
  56. ^ a b c d e Dowden (1991), p. xvii
  57. ^ Honegger (2001), pp. 105, 311
  58. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 106
  59. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 111
  60. ^ Honegger (2001), p. 112
  61. ^ a b c Dowden (1991), p. xviii
  62. ^ Honegger (2001), pp. 310–13
  63. ^ Dowden (1991), pp. 85–88
  64. ^ "Das Werk". Internationale Thomas Bernhard Gesellschaft (in German). Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  65. ^ "The Cheap-Eaters by Thomas Bernhard". Spurl Editions. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  66. ^ "The Voice Imitator by Thomas Bernhard – five stories excerpted". Press.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  67. ^ Goethe Dies. The German List. Seagull Books. Retrieved 6 March 2019 – via www.press.uchicago.edu.
  68. ^ Bernhard, Thomas; Honegger, Gitta (1980). "The Hunting Party". Performing Arts Journal. 5 (1): 101–131. doi:10.2307/3245132. ISSN 0735-8393. JSTOR 3245132. S2CID 193988878.
  69. ^ Bernhard, Thomas; Honegger, Gitta (1 March 2000). "Minetti". Theater. 30 (1): 57–87. doi:10.1215/01610775-30-1-57. ISSN 1527-196X. S2CID 246279103.
  70. ^ Bernhard, Thomas; Honegger, Gitta (1982). "The German Lunch Table: A Tragedy to be performed by the Vienna State Theatre when Touring Germany". Performing Arts Journal. 6 (1): 26–29. ISSN 1537-9477.
  71. ^ Bernhard, Thomas; Honeger, Gitta (1 February 1983). "Appearances Are Deceiving". Theater. 15 (1): 31–51. doi:10.1215/01610775-15-1-31. ISSN 0161-0775.
  72. ^ Honegger, Claudia; Hradil, Stefan; Traxler, Franz, eds. (1999). Grenzenlose Gesellschaft?. doi:10.1007/978-3-322-93332-4. ISBN 978-3-322-93333-1.
  73. ^ n+1; Frederick Seidel; Ceridwen Dovey; Thomas Bernhard; Roberto Bolano; Benjamin Kunkel; DJ/Rupture; David Harvey; A.S. Hamrah (25 November 2008). n+1, Number Seven: Correction. Internet Archive. n+1 Foundation. ISBN 9780976050360.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  74. ^ Histrionics: Three Plays, Thomas Bernhard (University of Chicago Press, 1990). University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 6 March 2019.

Works cited[edit]

  • Dowden, Stephen D. (1991). Understanding Thomas Bernhard. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0872497593.
  • Honegger, Gitta (2001). Thomas Bernhard, the Making of an Austrian. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300089996.
  • Konzett, Matthies, ed. (2002). A Companion to the Works of Thomas Bernhard. Rochester, NY: Camden House. ISBN 1571132163.

Further reading[edit]

  • Theo Breuer, Die Arbeit als Leidenschaft, die fortgesetzte Partitur als Leben. Hommage zum 80. Geburtstag.
  • Samuel Frederick, Narratives Unsettled: Digression in Robert Walser, Thomas Bernhard, and Adalbert Stifter. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press, 2012.
  • Kay Link, Die Welt als Theater. Künstlichkeit und Künstlertum bei Thomas Bernhard. Akademischer Verlag Stuttgart, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-88099-387-7.
  • Jonathan J. Long, The Novels of Thomas Bernhard: Form and its Function, Rochester, NY: Camden House Inc., 2001, ISBN 978-1-57113-224-6.
  • Thomas Bernhard: 3 Days, From the Film by Ferry Radax, Blast Books, 2016, ISBN 978-0-922233-46-5.
  • Fatima Naqvi, How We Learn Where We Live: Thomas Bernhard, Architecture, and Bildung, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois, 2015.
  • Augustinus P. Dierick, "The Teller from the Tale: Monologues, Dialogues, and Protocols in Thomas Bernhard's Major Novels." Oxford German Studies, 44.4 (2015), 1–12.

Reviews

  • Abish, Walter, "Embraced by Death" The New York Times, February 16, 1986. Review of Bernhard's Gathering Evidence.
  • Baskin, Jason M., "Thomas Bernhard" Boston Review, Summer 2002). Review of Gitta Honegger's biography of Bernhard and three books by Bernhard: Gathering Evidence, Correction, and Gargoyles. Also published in New Fiction Forum, Summer 2002.
  • Craft, Robert, "The Comedian of Horror" The New York Review of Books, September 27, 1990. Review of ten books by Bernhard.
  • Parks, Tim, "The Genius of Bad News" The New York Review of Books, January 11, 2007. Review of Honegger's biography and of Bernhard's Frost.
  • Updike, John (4 February 1985). "Books: Ungreat Lives". The New Yorker. Vol. 60, no. 51. pp. 94–101. Review of Concrete.

Films[edit]

  • Ferry Radax: Thomas Bernhard – Drei Tage (Thomas Bernhard – three days, 1970). Directed by Ferry Radax and based on a written self-portrait by Thomas Bernhard.
  • Ferry Radax: Der Italiener (The Italian, 1972), a feature film directed by Ferry Radax and based on a script by Thomas Bernhard.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Bernhard.
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