26 December 2006

Bernhard Interview


Here's a link to a great Thomas Bernhard interview, courtesy of my friend Patrick:
http://www.signandsight.com/features/1090.html



Happy holidays.
J

3 comments:

Lance Olsen said...

Can you say literary curmudgeon?

Still, what a great voice, what great energy, what a wonderful contrarian mind at work ... although, surely, the real story is what the interviewer, pressed into the straightman role, must be thinking.

My favorite passage:

That's all art is, getting better and better at playing your chosen instrument. That's the pleasure of it, and no one can take that pleasure away from you or talk you out of it. If someone is a great pianist then you can clear out the room where he's sitting with the piano, fill it with dust, and then start throwing buckets of water at him, but he'll stay put and keep on playing. Even if the house falls down around him, he'll carry on playing. And with writing it's the same thing.

Thanks for the link, Jeffrey.

Anonymous said...

Billion thanks for this, JD. I'm about to teach The Loser and any extra stuff on the great one will help fuel the discussion.

Happy 2007!

Laird

Anonymous said...

Bitter, brutal, brilliant. Loved the interview. Despite his acerbic tone, it is hard to deny that much of what he says/said about human nature is, to some degree, true. I sure wouldn't want him for a housemate, though! The words of G.I. Gurdjieff come to mind:

"If you have an unpleasant nature, and dislike people, this is no obstacle to work."

~m