tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post6736820096752005975..comments2023-12-24T17:41:42.989-08:00Comments on seraillon: Beautiful Daysseraillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-13941038816500838682015-07-11T18:17:43.276-07:002015-07-11T18:17:43.276-07:00Thanks very much Jacqui. I thought this was an unf...Thanks very much Jacqui. I thought this was an unforgettable novel, narratively complex and in terms of subject matter not easy to read but utterly gripping and with an honest indignation rare in literature. Innerhofer and Thomas Bernhard have a strikingly similar consuming anger towards Austria, but Bernhard manages to make it excruciatingly funny where I felt that Innerhofer wrote ferociously just to stay afloat. It's a shame the other volumes in this trilogy aren't available in English (to my knowledge). seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-53751325747726584422015-07-07T01:02:31.183-07:002015-07-07T01:02:31.183-07:00Tremendous review, Scott. You have a real talent f...Tremendous review, Scott. You have a real talent for analysing the technical aspects of literature - the author's style and use of different narrative elements, for instance. I'm intrigued by your comments on the way Innerhofer allows the reader to feel as though they are simultaneously inside the child's world and outside it as an objective observer. That's very clever. As you say, there are some crucial messages for society here...<br /><br />It's interesting to read Caroline's comments on Alois Hotschnig's collection of short stories too. I read it last year and wasn't aware of the original title or decision to change it for the translation into English. It's not about child abuse, so I can understand why Meike made that decision. JacquiWinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16220597283351925721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-7236648023947483492011-11-20T11:41:53.826-08:002011-11-20T11:41:53.826-08:00Newcomers: Bernhard is not all one thing, but Old...Newcomers: Bernhard is not all one thing, but <i>Old Masters</i> and <i>Woodcutters</i> are prime sources for the kind of misanthropic joy Seraillon put tat the top of the post.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-52454917612492757682011-11-19T11:29:45.459-08:002011-11-19T11:29:45.459-08:00Thank you, I shall look out for Innerhofer. And Co...Thank you, I shall look out for Innerhofer. And <em>Correction</em> might be my next Bernhard, having just finished <em>Old Masters</em>, a brilliant book, but his protagonist is scathing about all things Austrian.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-15264267723097735432011-11-18T23:21:55.103-08:002011-11-18T23:21:55.103-08:00I went on the German amazon page to look up his bo...I went on the German amazon page to look up his book and the trail of related books, all by Austrian authors, and all circling to some extent around child abuse - Jelinek and Anna Mitgutsch among them - was a bit shocking. <br />Meike wrote they didn't want the association because Hotschnig's book isn't about child abuse. That's fair, I think.Carolinehttp://beautyisasleepingcat.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-51546081092188181242011-11-18T20:13:37.750-08:002011-11-18T20:13:37.750-08:00Tony - I'm probably the last person to ask, si...Tony - I'm probably the last person to ask, since I've only read "Correction" so far, but for what it's worth I thought it was fantastic. And I certainly plan to read more of Bernhard's work - and Innerhofer's, should more of it turn up in translation. <br /><br />Rise - I really didn't do my due diligence in researching Innerhofer; I only know what little biographical information I gleaned from a very cursory Internet search. But now I'm quite curious about his relation to and possible influence on Bernhard. Good luck finding a copy of "Beautiful Days" - it's one of a handful of out-of-print novels I'm ready to fight for to see back in print.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-69983010738860524242011-11-18T19:01:32.914-08:002011-11-18T19:01:32.914-08:00A great review, Scott! I've been researching o...A great review, Scott! I've been researching online and it looks like Innerhofer was largely unread in English. Wikipedia doesn't even have an English page on him. And I didn't see any reviews in Shelfari, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. He seemed to share some aspects of Bernhard's childhood in the fact that they both didn't know their father, but this book certainly showed that Innerhofer's childhood was traumatic. Bernhard was at least sheltered by his grandparents. I'm not too surprised they repudiated Stifter. Stifter's subject and style must have been too pastoral for them. In 'Rock Crystal' alone, the focus on the natural environment and the ideal childhood seemed the very antithesis of Bernhard, who must have considered it a naive 19th century lesson for protracted 20th century history. I hope to be able to read 'Correction' sometime soon. And 'Beautiful Days' if ever I find a copy.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-7017037264106178592011-11-18T18:53:58.281-08:002011-11-18T18:53:58.281-08:00Another writer to check out (sigh...).
So, what w...Another writer to check out (sigh...).<br /><br />So, what would be the best Bernhard books for a complete newcomer?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-91910736493492222842011-11-18T12:19:15.300-08:002011-11-18T12:19:15.300-08:00Tom - I've read that passage aloud to friends ...Tom - I've read that passage aloud to friends just for the pleasure of watching their mouths drop open. But I think I have things somewhat backwards here, in that it's entirely possible that the "horrible lifelong punishment for existing, for the blameless act of having been born in the first place" may actually be a direct allusion to "Beautiful Days," which Bernhard surely knew at the time he wrote "Correction." For all its serious subject matter, Innerhofer's novel maintains a tone similar to Bernhard's, for which there must be some German term: an unusual mixture of scathing criticism with a kind of histrionic, almost congratulatory delight in the intelligence behind its delivery. So I think I was wrong to say that it's only Holl's resilience and Innerhofer's talent that makes this novel "bearable in the least." It's far more than bearable; it's compulsively readable in part thanks to this tone that borders on something akin to the high hilarity one experiences when one might just as easily laugh as cry, combined with a striking intellectual clarity. IS there a term for this? <br /><br />Caroline - I found it impossible to read "Beautiful Days" without thinking of the highly publicized incidents of abuse in Austria of recent years. It's interesting that the publisher of the Hotschnig book elected to avoid having the title run the risk of being associated with child abuse, particularly as this is precisely one of Innerhofer's charges - that the culture abjectly fails to turn its attention to the abuse and neglect of its children and would just rather not hear about it.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-83688816275046837612011-11-17T21:54:36.551-08:002011-11-17T21:54:36.551-08:00What a thought-provoking post. I don't even kn...What a thought-provoking post. I don't even know where to start. I'm not familiar with Innerhofer but will most certainly try to read it. I'm a mazed about his and Bernhard's very negative view of the home country, amazed but then I must also admit, that Austria always struck me as problematic. Also when you look at its political landscape, quite different, and openly right wing and populist, very unlike Germany. It's also refreshing, to move away from the endless idealization that the word Vienna seems to trigger in writers and readers alike and the flood of sugary historical novels. Fin de siècle Vienna is long gone and Austria can most certainly not be recuded to its capital. <br />The abuse of children does remind me of something else. I reviewed Austrian writer Alois Hotschnig's short story collection (published by Pereine) and was puzzled by the choice of title. The German title is "Die Kinder beruhigte das nicht" which means "This didn't calm the children". Instead they chose the title of one of the stories "Maybe This Time". Meike from Pereine Press commented on my review saying, they couldn't keep the title as it was an Austrian book and would be immediately associated with child abuse. And there have indeed been shocking examples of this in recent years. <br />It's deplorable that Innerhofer had to end his life but some wounds never heal properly, or so it seems. <br />Thanks for this in-depth review.Carolinehttp://beautyisasleepingcat.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2609668304633418767.post-33299550818495500402011-11-17T17:39:59.922-08:002011-11-17T17:39:59.922-08:00Sorry, this always happens with those Bernhard pas...Sorry, this always happens with those Bernhard passages, I just start laughing uncontrollably. They are just the funniest things. There's a long chunk of <i>Old Masters</i> where he lays into Bruckner and then Stifter - or the other way? - that just kills me.<br /><br />So my point is, I will have to come back to read the rest of your piece once I have recovered. "a horrible lifelong punishment for existing" - ah ha ha ha ha!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.com