Three Novellas (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Bernhard
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Novellas
- Time of Work: Post-World War II
- Setting: Innsbruck and Vienna, Austria
- Principal Characters: Walter, Uncle, Doctor, Truck driver, Siller, Schausteller, The Traveler, The Narrator, Oehler, Karrer
- Genres: Long fiction, Short fiction, Novella, Translation
- Subjects: Suicide, Twentieth century, Europe or Europeans, Alienation, Mental illness, Reality, Death or dying, Card games, Orphans or orphanages, Austria or Austrians, Life and death, Isolation, Games, Vienna, Mental health, Austrian Tirol
- Locales: Vienna, Austria
The first novella, Amras, is set in an ancient tower on the outskirts of Innsbruck, capital of the Austrian Tyrol, an Alpine region which for author Thomas Bernhard is the dark heart of the darkest beast in his tormented mythology, Austria itself. This novella, his second, shows that early in his career the writer was already grappling with this beast with the same deadpan humor, as well as the deep spite, that carried him throughout his entire career.
Though Amras is dominated by the voice of a narrator, as in all of Bernhard’s fiction, missing is the single...
[The entire page is 2086 words long]
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