July 22nd, 2009 / 1:59 pm
Uncategorized

Thomas Bernhard for life

Q: Reading your books, one gets the impression that you see no hope whatsoever in this domain.

A: That’s a stupid question…

Q: What kind of intellectual aims do you…

A: These are all questions that can’t be answered because no one asks themselves that sort of thing. People don’t have aims. Young people, up to 23, they still fall for that. A person who has lived five decades has no aims, because there’s no goal.

Thomas Bernhard for life

[In an interview from 1986, the late Austrian author Thomas Bernhard discusses the musicality of language, the eroticism of old men and the incurability of stupidity. By Werner Wögerbauer]

21 Comments

  1. Gian

      Fucking great interview, man. God, I love this guy.

  2. Gian

      Fucking great interview, man. God, I love this guy.

  3. Blake Butler

      spitting fire

  4. Blake Butler

      spitting fire

  5. Drew

      I just saw this play made out of his book Kalkwerk. The kicker? The play was in Polish, a language I, nor Bernhard, remotely speak. Still totally rad.

  6. Drew

      I just saw this play made out of his book Kalkwerk. The kicker? The play was in Polish, a language I, nor Bernhard, remotely speak. Still totally rad.

  7. Lincoln

      love this dude

  8. Lincoln

      love this dude

  9. Ken Baumann

      Wow.

  10. Ken Baumann

      Wow.

  11. Just Bernhard Being Bernhard | Fiction

      […] Higgs over at <htmlgiant> digs up an old Thomas Bernhard interview that is well worth a read. Bernhard (The Loser, […]

  12. Michael James

      … what the fuck?

      “There is no need to strive for anything in the world, because you get pushed towards it in any case.”

      So… I am guessing he means if I work on a craft, there is no reason to strive for a particular thing, because I will be dragged towards this thing, anyway. Conscious striving is pointless as unconsciously your desires will manifest.

      Or he could mean laying on the floor and doing nothing will get you to the same point as if you decided to strive towards some sort of “your” greatness.

      If he means the second, this man is out of his mind. And I somewhat agree with most of what he said. But depending on the meaning of his words… he’s fucking nuts.

  13. Michael James

      … what the fuck?

      “There is no need to strive for anything in the world, because you get pushed towards it in any case.”

      So… I am guessing he means if I work on a craft, there is no reason to strive for a particular thing, because I will be dragged towards this thing, anyway. Conscious striving is pointless as unconsciously your desires will manifest.

      Or he could mean laying on the floor and doing nothing will get you to the same point as if you decided to strive towards some sort of “your” greatness.

      If he means the second, this man is out of his mind. And I somewhat agree with most of what he said. But depending on the meaning of his words… he’s fucking nuts.

  14. soffi stiassni

      fantastic. summary of most books, ‘fml’ but in B’s case each letter is not pronounced individually but in one long phonetic pppppphhhhmmmmmellllllle. you know? like those non-existent paragraphs…

  15. soffi stiassni

      fantastic. summary of most books, ‘fml’ but in B’s case each letter is not pronounced individually but in one long phonetic pppppphhhhmmmmmellllllle. you know? like those non-existent paragraphs…

  16. Lincoln

      or he is just a jerk messing with some interviewer.

  17. Lincoln

      or he is just a jerk messing with some interviewer.

  18. andy.riverbed

      this was fucking awesome.

      up there with the faulkner interview at the Paris review.

  19. andy.riverbed

      this was fucking awesome.

      up there with the faulkner interview at the Paris review.

  20. andy.riverbed

      so i picked up “Frost” by this man who so inspired me in his interview and it turns out it was translated by Michael Hofmann whom i’m having a poetry writing class with next semester. wicked.

  21. andy.riverbed

      so i picked up “Frost” by this man who so inspired me in his interview and it turns out it was translated by Michael Hofmann whom i’m having a poetry writing class with next semester. wicked.