It is 1967. In separate wings of a Viennese hospital, two men lie bedridden. The narrator, named Thomas Bernhard, is stricken with a lung ailment; his friend Paul, nephew of the celebrated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, is suffering from one of his periodic bouts of madness. As their once-casual friendship quickens, these two eccentric men begin to discover in each other a possible antidote to their feelings of hopelessness and mortality—a spiritual symmetry forged by their shared passion for music, strange sense of humor, disgust for bourgeois Vienna, and great fear in the face of death. Part memoir, part fiction, Wittgenstein’s Nephew is both a meditation on the artist’s struggle to maintain a solid foothold in a world gone incomprehensibly askew, and a stunning—if not haunting—eulogy to a real-life friendship.
From Publishers Weekly
A "partly autobiographical novel" with the subtitle "A Friendship," Bernhard's ( Woodcutters , The Lime Works ) 1984 work delineates the unusual relationship between the narrator, a writer not unlike Bernhard, and the brilliant but mad nephew of the phil- osopher Wittgenstein. Both men are confined to beds in the same hospital, the narrator in the pulmonary ward and Paul Wittgenstein in the asylum. Both are plagued with fears and doubts about the terminal nature of life. Acquaintances beforehand, they reach out now and build a friendship based on mutual support and respect that somehow thrives in this bleak and hopeless environment. Bernhard's style relies on ponderous repetition of words and ideas, which may be more natural in the original German. When successful this technique has the effect of a musical composition that reiterates a theme in variations. More often, though, it palls and results in maddeningly convoluted sentences that tend to numb the mind. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The works of Austrian novelist/playwright Bernhard continue to be internationally recognized. This novel, originally published in 1982, documents the author's friendship with Paul Wittgenstein, nephew to Ludwig and a philosopher in his own right. The novel is part autobiography and part retrospective re-creation of the eccentric Paul's life and--as in numerous other works of Bernhard--an explanation of the artist's struggle to survive in a world gone insane. The novel is witty, biting, and very moving, all beautifully captured in the translation. Highly recommended for literature and philosophy collections. - Ulrike S. Rettig, Wellesley Coll., Mass. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
It is 1967. In separate wings of a Viennese hospital, two men lie bedridden. The narrator, named Thomas Bernhard, is stricken with a lung ailment; his friend Paul, nephew of the celebrated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, is suffering from one of his periodic bouts of madness. As their once-casual friendship quickens, these two eccentric men begin to discover in each other a possible antidote to their feelings of hopelessness and mortality—a spiritual symmetry forged by their shared passion for music, strange sense of humor, disgust for bourgeois Vienna, and great fear in the face of death. Part memoir, part fiction, Wittgenstein’s Nephew is both a meditation on the artist’s struggle to maintain a solid foothold in a world gone incomprehensibly askew, and a stunning—if not haunting—eulogy to a real-life friendship.
From Publishers Weekly
A "partly autobiographical novel" with the subtitle "A Friendship," Bernhard's ( Woodcutters , The Lime Works ) 1984 work delineates the unusual relationship between the narrator, a writer not unlike Bernhard, and the brilliant but mad nephew of the phil- osopher Wittgenstein. Both men are confined to beds in the same hospital, the narrator in the pulmonary ward and Paul Wittgenstein in the asylum. Both are plagued with fears and doubts about the terminal nature of life. Acquaintances beforehand, they reach out now and build a friendship based on mutual support and respect that somehow thrives in this bleak and hopeless environment. Bernhard's style relies on ponderous repetition of words and ideas, which may be more natural in the original German. When successful this technique has the effect of a musical composition that reiterates a theme in variations. More often, though, it palls and results in maddeningly convoluted sentences that tend to numb the mind.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The works of Austrian novelist/playwright Bernhard continue to be internationally recognized. This novel, originally published in 1982, documents the author's friendship with Paul Wittgenstein, nephew to Ludwig and a philosopher in his own right. The novel is part autobiography and part retrospective re-creation of the eccentric Paul's life and--as in numerous other works of Bernhard--an explanation of the artist's struggle to survive in a world gone insane. The novel is witty, biting, and very moving, all beautifully captured in the translation. Highly recommended for literature and philosophy collections.
- Ulrike S. Rettig, Wellesley Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.