Research Catalog
The nihilism of Thomas Bernhard : the portrayal of existential and social problems in his prose works / Charles W. Martin.
- Title
- The nihilism of Thomas Bernhard : the portrayal of existential and social problems in his prose works / Charles W. Martin.
- Author
- Martin, Charles W.
- Publication
- Amsterdam ; Atlanta, GA : Rodopi, c1995.
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | PT2662.E7 Z7754 1995 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- 277 p.; 22 cm.
- Summary
- This study examines the nihilistic basis of Bernhard's writing, and traces developments in the author's nihilistic stance throughout his career. In the first period of his prose fiction (1963-1975), nihilism is reluctantly accepted by Bernhard's fictional characters as a necessary response to a world perceived as meaningless. Various possible sources of transcendence are explored, and rejected. The autobiographical texts (1975-1982) then represent a sustained attempt by the author himself to transcend his own essentially nihilistic state. The apparent success of this attempt is quickly revealed to be illusory in the prose fiction of the second period (1978-1986), and it becomes apparent that nihilism is a no less necessary response to Austrian social reality than to the (more purely) personal problems which first motivated Bernhard's writing.
- Series Statement
- Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur ; 121
- Uniform Title
- Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur ; 121. Bd.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliogrpahical references (p. [250]-272) and index.
- ISBN
- 9051838867
- OCLC
- 34555723
- SCSB-11495832
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library