Old Masters
In this exuberantly satirical novel, the tutor Atzbacher has beensummoned by his friend Reger to meet him in a Viennese museum. WhileReger gazes at a Tintoretto portrait, Atzbacher—who fears Reger'splans to kill himself—gives us a portrait of the musicologist: hiswisdom, his devotion to his wife,...
show more
In this exuberantly satirical novel, the tutor Atzbacher has beensummoned by his friend Reger to meet him in a Viennese museum. WhileReger gazes at a Tintoretto portrait, Atzbacher—who fears Reger'splans to kill himself—gives us a portrait of the musicologist: hiswisdom, his devotion to his wife, and his love-hate relationship withart. With characteristically acerbic wit, Bernhard exposes thepretensions and aspirations of humanity in a novel at once pessimisticand strangely exhilarating."Bernhard's . . . most enjoyable novel."—Robert Craft, New York Review of Books."Bernhard is one of the masters of contemporary European fiction."—George Steiner
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780226043913 (0226043916)
Publish date: November 15th 1992
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Pages no: 160
Edition language: English
Read about half of this - it is a self-parody (as the subtitle suggests: "a comedy"), and so is less compelling. There are some fascinating passages, such as the passage on life (and art) as fragment (rather than as whole), which can serve as a set-piece for 'modernism'.Still, not my favorite Bernha...
In which we get the rambling thoughts of Reger, an 82-year-old music critic, whose irascibility is only matched by his erudition, as he sits in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum before Tintoretto's 'Portrait of a White Bearded Man'. Reger hates almost everything but reserves great passion for those ...
Log in with Facebook 
