Austrian fiction Good to see that the new biogr…
Austrian fiction
Good to see that the new biography of
Thomas Bernhard is getting attention. Two reviews, one by Martin Chalmers in The Independent, and another, anonymous one on The Complete Review. My review of the same book will appear in the next SPIKE update (over to you Chris!). I take a line somewhere in between the two above.
I know Chalmer�s name from the introduction to Concrete (which doesn�t appear in the only edition in print). He’s now edited a selection of Austrian fiction from the 60s to the present published by Serpent’s Tail. It’s annoying, however, that they don’t list what�s actually in the book. Are there rare, translated pieces by Bernhard and Peter Handke?
Samuel Beckett was excited by Bernhard’s work. This is not mentioned in the otherwise fascinating short memoir How It Was written by his friend Anne Atik. Somehow, these brief glimpses into a writer’s life can provide what monumental biographies (like James Knowlson’s) bury. For this reason, I’m becoming less and less interested in the genre just as it becomes a staple of the publishing industry.
Other SpikeMagazine.com posts of interest:
- Better late
- The most important writer in the world
- Right country, wrong author
- Repetition again, part 2
- Views of an incorrigible utopian
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