Incurably bookish, ninety percent male, they hand you wellthumbed copies of the loser and the lime works and stare fixedly into your eyes. All books ship for free via usps media mail to domestic addresses, and are always packed in wellpadded cardboard boxes. Surprisingly, the novelty of bernhards style doesnt wear thin, despite the fact that he uses the words konrad is supposed to have said or some variation over and over presumable to reinforce the underlying ambiguity of not only konrads assertions, but also of the actual conditions of his and his wifes existence in the lime works itself. Sophie wilkins for five years, konrad imprisoned himself and his crippled wife in an abandoned lime works where he conducted odd auditory experiments and prepared to write his masterwork, the sense of hearing. Yet what makes the lime works easier to digest is that it doesnt get entirely bogged down in his personal preoccupations i use the phrase bogged down here not all negatively, btw. The lime works by professor thomas bernhard alibris. A novel vintage international paperback march 9, 2010 by thomas bernhard author. Bernhards novel is often more frustrating than satisfying. Yes, the narrator is selfdeceiving, selfdestructive, willful, angry, much putupon, and seemingly unfairly punished i. The lime works thomas bernhard hardcover first edition 1973. The lime works vintage international by professor thomas bernhard 9 mar 2010. Franzjosef murauthe intellectual black sheep of a powerful austrian landowning familylives in rome in selfimposed exile, surrounded by a coterie of artistic and intellectual friends.
Books by thomas bernhard concrete correction frost extinction gargoyles gathering evidence the lime works the loser my prizes wittgensteins nephew woodcutters thomas bernhard, gargoyles thank you for reading books on bookfrom. Details about the lime works thomas bernhard hardcover first edition 1973. Sign up for librarything to find out whether youll like this book. One of thomas bernhards earliest published works was a. But this, one suspects, is all part of the authors agenda. A novel vintage international on free shipping on qualified orders the lime works. In many ways, bernhard s the lime works stands as a novellength exercise in the rashomon effect. Apr 15, 2014 thomas bernhard 19311989 was one of the twentieth centurys great prose stylists.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the lime works. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Ultimately, reading the lime works is akin to visiting the actual lime works as described in the book, which is to say, stifling and generative of a strong desire to escape. The lime works by thomas bernhard book cover, description, publication history. While there is a firstperson narrator, an insurance salesman, this narrator remains rather buried in the text. Chantal thomas s thomas bernhard, which appeared in 1990, was, in turn, the first significant critical study devoted exclusively to his work. Bernhard is a writer of great originality and fascination. Konrad locks himself and his wife up in an abandoned lime works to write.
Surprisingly, the novelty of bernhard s style doesnt wear thin, despite the fact that he uses the words konrad is supposed to have said or some variation over and over presumable to reinforce the underlying ambiguity of not only konrads assertions, but also of the actual conditions of his and his wifes existence in the lime works itself. Thomas bernhard was born in 1931 in heerlen in the netherlands, where his unmarried mother herta bernhard worked as a maid. The other books are the loser, and old masters, which contains bernhards explicit attack on heildegger. The lime works ebook by thomas bernhard author, isbn.
Not just bernhards novels, but the specifics of his. The lime works by thomas bernhard overdrive rakuten. Bleak stuff, they say, but then again, what is life but one long bleak. Yes, the lime works, as with most other bernhard novels, is a singleparagraph, near rant. From the late thomas bernhard, arguably austrias most influential novelist of the postwar period, and one of the greatest artists in all twentiethcentury literature in the german language, his magnum opus. Honeggers account of bernhard s formative years reads like the narrative of his fourth novel the lime works, in which the story of konrads murder of his wife is a collage of known facts, familiar anecdotes, and the protagonists own dubious version of events. Buy the lime works, oxfam, thomas bernhard, 0226043975, books, fiction. The lime works by thomas bernhard first edition ebay. Here is a quick description and cover image of book the lime works. Perhaps he had no right to say it, but he had a right to 4. The lime works by thomas bernhard postmodern mystery. For five years, konrad has imprisoned himself and his crippled wife in an abandoned lime works where hes conducted odd. Ill say the loser is widely considered bernhards best. A novel vintage international kindle edition by bernhard, thomas.
Lime works by bernhard, thomas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. It is a complex surrealist work, where the creativity and resourcefulness of a destructive personality is marshalled against itself in a nightmarish narration. During the 58 years of his life, the austrian writer thomas bernhard 19311989 composed more than 60 works of fiction, theater, poetry, and. One of bernhards most acclaimed novels, the loser centers on a fictional relationship between piano. This tale of a failed author who murders his wife is presented in an indirect, digressive narrative built solely from second or thirdor even fourthhand accounts.
Extinction, bernhards last work of fiction, takes the form of the autobiographical testimony of franzjosef murau, the intellectual black sheep of a powerful. Maybe youve seen them, stranded in shoals of the fiction section in some outoftheway used bookstore. Thomas bernhard was born in holland in 1931 and grew up in austria. But personally i like the lime works and woodcutters best. One of bernhards most acclaimed novels, the loser centers on a fictional relationship between piano virtuoso. Competently bound in half black calf and marbled boards, original wrappers bound in. Its a dark meditation on the nature of perfection and its potential destructive effect on those who seek it. As noted previously, the book features a grisly murder, the motive for which is explored but never explained. Readers can try to force these testimonies into a single coherent plot and timeline. The lime works is a novel by thomas bernhard, first published in german in 1970.
Jun 26, 2014 the lime works by thomas bernhard it seems necessary when writing about thomas bernhard to use certain words or phrases to describe his work. Thomas bernhard the last work of fiction by one of the twentieth centurys greatest artists, extinction is widely considered thomas bernhard s magnum opus. The best account of bernhards early life, if hardly the most reliable, is the autobiography he published, in five volumes, between 1975 and 1982. Read the lime works a novel by thomas bernhard available from rakuten kobo. 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.
A novel by thomas bernhard in pdf epub format complete free. Honeggers account of bernhards formative years reads like the narrative of his fourth novel the lime works, in which the story of konrads murder of his wife is a collage of known facts, familiar anecdotes, and the. He is widely considered to be one of the most important germanspeaking authors of the postwar, postmodernist era. Stewart the most unusual characteristic of this third novel of thomas bernhards is the style of narration. The lime works, a place of eclipse, is of course the central fact and concurrent symbol lime rusts and rots everything in sight. The lime works thomas bernhard hardcover first edition. Some other, better bernhard, or the rights and wrongs of. The lime works by thomas bernhard fantastic fiction. The speech that bernhard gave on this occasion began with a powerful indictment of language that expresses the lovehate relationship with words that would. Thomas bernhard was one of the most original writers of the twentieth century.
Thomas bernhard, austrian writer who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilization in general and austrian culture in particular. Extinction, bernhard s last work of fiction, takes the form of the autobiographical testimony of franzjosef murau, the intellectual black sheep of a powerful austrian landowning family. Even konrad, who, in spite of his expanded powers of perception, has not been able to set down his multidisciplinary medicomusicometaphysicalmathematical work in progress which has been orbiting in his. The lime works ebook by thomas bernhard rakuten kobo. Aug 21, 20 from the late thomas bernhard, arguably austrias most influential novelist of the postwar period, and one of the greatest artists in all twentiethcentury literature in the german language, his magnum opus. Since 1991, gallimard has been publishing bernhard s work in paperback editions, which is, as porcell notes, the unmistakable sign that bernhard has been accepted into the pantheon of literary classics. The lime works is a tale of a man who has been shaped by his youth, how he was raised, how he was treated and how lonely he was because thats all he ever was. Franzjosef murau the intellectual black sheep of a powerful austrian landowning familylives in rome in selfimposed exile, surrounded by a coterie of artistic and intellectual friends. Thomas bernhard the last work of fiction by one of the twentieth centurys greatest artists, extinction is widely considered thomas bernhards magnum opus. In 1957 he began a second career, as a playwright, poet, and novelist. It seems necessary when writing about thomas bernhard to use certain words or phrases to describe his work.
His formal innovation ranks with beckett and kafka, his outrageously cantankerous voice recalls dostoevsky, but his gift for lacerating, lyrical, provocative prose is incomparably his own. Buy the lime works by professor thomas bernhard online at alibris. A novel written by thomas bernhard which was published in 1970. In the lime works, novelist thomas bernhard instead relies on streamofhearsay. Which book is generally considered thomas bernhards best.