Rate Thomas Bernhard's work from best to worst

So far, I liked Old Masters, The Loser and Wittgenstein's Nephew the most. But there's not really a bad book by Bernhard.

Frost > everything else mentioned in this thread

I have read 5 of his books. His autobiography and My Prizes wait yet to be read (I don't expect too much, though). I'd rate them as
The Losers >> Gargoyles >= Correction >> Extinction > Old Masters.

I read The Losers in a period when I was struggling with depression and the impostor syndrome and I almost killed myself because of it. Not a good timing, but it was really insightful.
Same with Gargoyles, I still remember some of his narration about the crazy prince, and my god this opening with the Pascal's quote, " The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me" - I still have goosebumps every time I read it.
Sometimes I dream about being a perfect ball just rolling and thinking without all these humiliating human desires and needs that one needs to satisfy to remain sane at least to some extent, so the story of the cone's architect from Correction was very relatable. Idk why, but this one always reminds me also Krasznahorkai's Satantango.

His plays are not really good. His memoir Gathering Evidence is his best

I think he just wrote the plays for the banter.

yes

where to start with Bernhard?

Gargoyles or Frost

>impostor syndrome
I don't wanna be an asshole, but psychotherapy is a scam.

1)Yes - this was the first I read by Bernhard and remains my favourite. A good place to start with him imo. It's short as well
2) The Lime Works
3) Concrete
4) Extinction (I still think about this one a lot. It's his longest and last novel though, so probably not a good place to start)
5) Wittgenstein's Nephew
6) Correction
7) The Loser
8) Three Novellas
9) Woodcutters
10) Gargoyles

That's everything I've read by him...

I see your point. Don't worry, it is not like I find myself some kind of genius now. I just see effects of all the efforts I'm putting at something and that's it. Back then I ridiculed even that.

here I forgot to mention Frost which is between loser and gargoyles for me. I want to definitely read more by him but so far Amras has been the best, it was Bernhard's favorite book of his as well apparently

Correction
Extinction
The Loser
Concrete
The Lime Works
Yes
Gargoyles
Frost
Old Masters
Woodcutters
Wittgenstein's Nephew
Three Novellas
The Cheap Eaters

all are worth reading though. still have yet to read his plays and Gathering Evidence, but he's easily one of my favorite authors. Correction in particular being one of the greatest works of the latter half of the 20th century, imo

Hey OP, you have that pic of Bernhard eating an icee?

"Ein Kind" is my faforite.
I'm unsure if it got translated yet

Sein Stil macht die deutsche Sprache noch musikalischer.

Man kann das nicht in Übersetzung fühlen.

We had no luck with the weather and the guests at our table were repellent in every respect. They even spoiled Nietzsche for us. Even after they had had a fatal car accident and had been laid out in the church in Sils, we still hated them.

Wir hatten kein Wetterglück und in jeder Beziehung auch widerwärtige Gäste an unserem Tisch gehabt. Selbst Nietzsche haben sie uns verleidet. Auch als sie mit ihrem Auto tödlich verunglückt und schon in der Kirche von Sils aufgebahrt waren, haben wir sie noch immer gehasst.

I think it's collected in "Gathering Evidence".

Here's a picture of Bernhard being an ice.

I like how all his books are the same

The same how? What's his main idea?

every narrator becomes blurred with the protagonist and the protagonist is ends up dying in a strangely sacrificial way so as to allow the narrator to continue living/escape suicide.
the main idea of his ouevre is the destruction of austrian high society - the dissimilation of the hapsburg empire was hugely influential to bernhard. growing up as a teen in austria during the third reich clearly had a profound effect on bernhard. the conspiracy of silence which consumed austria after WWII is exactly what bernhard is writing about - austria's refusal to come to terms with past atrocities and so attempt and move forward or progress. instead, bernhard sees austria as clinging to the past and completely backwards. the repetition of his novels illustrates that stagnancy. things are changing, minute things, sure, but nothing is changing enough. there is no major difference or change.

Thank you. If I were to read just one novel of his, which would you choose?

truth be told i've only read three. i'm doing an academic paper on bernhard's influence on w.g. sebald through the lens of wittgenstein's nephew and rings of saturn, respectively - the use of repetition is a strong influence on sebald.

for bernhard, i have read concrete, wittgenstein's nephew, walking, and about 70 pages of the lime works. concrete and wittgenstein's nephew are phenomenal. the lime works is very good as well, though it's more surreal. still covers the various Bernhardian topics of suicide, sacrifice, etc, but it does so through a different lens (a minute difference).
so here's what i'd say. if you want a surreal, mroe detective-style story, read the lime works. if you'd like a more realistic bernhard with some of his most tender writing, read wittgenstein's nephew.

as for reading his novels - i would recommend reading them at your own pace the first time. it's difficult to stop due to the one paragraph structure, but don't feel you must finish the novel in one sitting. save that for a second read. the second time i read wittgenstein's nephew (and the first time i read it in one sitting) i was out of breath and weeping when i finished it, not exaggeration. there is an unbelievable sense of release, catharsis really, when one finishes a bernhard novel in one go.

That sounds very appealing. Decay, decadence, a stale society hiding its guilt, one where all masks look the same--I'm already speculating on what Bernhard is depicting. I want to read him even more now. The only thing is that I'm a slow reader so I'll need to think of a way to find suitable places to stop between readings. I already have The Lime Works at home and as I flipped through it a while ago I was a bit put off by the wall of text. I vaguely remember that it did have paragraphs though, just very far apart. I think I'll start with it, I like surrealism better than realism anyway.

Thank you for the kind recommendations and good luck on your paper.

One more thing: I just realised that I enjoyed everything I've read so far by a modern Austrian author: I've read two works by Schnitzler, two by Handke and one by Sebald. Any other names I should look for?

Just a note: Sebald is not Austrian, he's from southern Germany, close to the border.

Yeah, a continuous stream of narration, sometimes even without any interpunction, confusing changes of narrators and many levels of reported speech are all characteristics of Bernhard's prose. You literally feel the madness.

Read Concrete, Corrections, Loser and Frost

Frost left the biggest impression on me

bump

The Loser is a terrible novel.

It's entertaining for like 10 pages then it's just annoying. It's misanthropy for pre-teens. I will not be reading another Bernhard novel.

Love,
Mom

Seeing as this has been bumped, I'll share some more of my thoughts on Thomas...

The books of his I like the most are the ones where humanity and emotion shine through.

To pick one example - Concrete - where (spoilers) 90% of the book is concerned with matters of the intellect and abstract ideas, quite cold and robotic... then suddenly the last 10% of the book is emotionally devastating.

This is why I prefer these works to those like Correction, which while aesthetically might be better works of "art", to my mind, they lack that emotional punch

I finished that paper on Bernhard and Sebald. It's underdeveloped and rushed (I'm on 30 mg of adderall, two 20 oz coffees, and about seven spliffs over the course of the day) but I'd be happy to share the parts about Bernhard.

Sure, post it somewhere. Even though I probably won't have a clue what you're talking about since I've only read Vertigo and none by Bernhard.

>takes drugs
>expects to be taken seriously

Yeah, nah.

I'm interested. Any connections with Sebald's Austerlitz?

Konrad Bayer, Georg Trakl, Stefan Zweig is what i've read so far

I would also be interested. I was completely oblivious of Sebald so far, but greatly enjoyed what I read from Bernhard until now. Would anyone like to recommend me a follow-up to 'Concrete'? I have been considering 'Yes', any opinions?

pastebin.com/0TVsUcmU

how is this guy's poetry?

it's alright

Anyone? Don't let this thread die yet.

You doing this for an uni or something? How olde are you?

>any
There doesn't seem much consensus among those who have read multiple books by him. Just look at the rankings. No clear path to get into Bernhard either; I don't think it'd be worth hoping for a Bernhard chart. His style, themes and the complexity of his works don't change much from one to the next, if I understand correctly what most anons have suggested.

Yeah did it for my final paper in a class. Senior in undergrad.

Sorry lad. I'd recommend Wittgenstein's Nephew if only because Concrete and WN are my favorites of his. Paul, who is mentioned in Concrete, is the protagonist/surrogate in Wittgenstein's Nephew.

Bump - would love to discuss Bernhard more

gn sp

Seems like everyone is giving a different order. I read The Woodcutters and loved it. I'll start picking up more of him for sure.

What would you like to discuss?

Anything

is Bernhard your favorite author?

So bring up a topic