Extinction

by Thomas Bernhard, David McLintock (Translator)

Thomas Bernhard is one of the greatest twentieth-century writers in the German language. Extinction, his last novel, takes the form of the autobiographical testimony of Franz-Josef Murau. The intellectual black sheep of a powerful Austrian land-owning family, Murau lives in self-exile in Rome. Obsessed and angry with his identity as an Austrian, he resolves never to return to the family estate of Wolfsegg. But when news comes of his parents' deaths, he finds himself master of Wolfsegg and must decide its fate.

Written in Bernhard's seamless style, Extinction is the ultimate proof of his extraordinary literary genius.

Genres: Fiction, German Literature, Classics, Literature, Novels, Literary Fiction, 20th Century

335 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian writer who ranks among the most distinguished German-speaking writers of the second half of the 20th century.

Although internationally he’s most acclaimed because of his novels, he was also a prolific playwright. His characters are often at work on a lifetime and never-ending major project while they deal with themes such as suicide, madness and obsession, and, as Bernhard did, a love-hate relationship with Austria. His prose is tumultuous but sober at the same time, philosophic by turns, with a musical cadence and plenty of black humor.

He started publishing in the year 1963 with the novel Frost. His last published work, appearing in the year 1986, was Extinction. Some of his best-known works include The Loser (about a student’s fictionalized relationship with the pianist Glenn Gould), Wittgenstein’s Nephew, and Woodcutters.

Reviews

[Vartanian]

این اثر بسیار مهم برنهارت بزرگ توسط عبدالله جمنی از انگلیسی ترجمه و نشر نوای مکتوب آن را در (صد نسخه!!!) به طبع رسانده که کاملا می‌توان به این نشر حق داد آن‌هم بعد از چاپ هفت‌هشت جلد از کتب برنهارت.
ترجمه نام کتاب «نسخ» انتخاب شده که ترجمه‌ی آزادتر و شاید هم هوشمندانه از مترجم بوده. زیرا ممکن است مترجم دیگری آن‌را زوال ترجمه می‌کرد.
حالا که این چهارصد و هشت صفحه روایت لاینقطع برای علاقه‌مندان برنهارت یک شعبده و معجزه است و ما از مترجم بسیار متشکریم اما باید دید خانم آرمند که سابقه‌ی دو ترجمه‌ی مستقیم از زبان مبدأ و موفق از برنهارت را در کارنامه‌ی خود دارند آیا به ترجمه‌ی این اثر مهم می‌پردازند یا نه...

«به گامبتی گفتم، همیشه فرومایه‌گی نفعش را نشان می‌دهد و اخلاق‌مندی مضحک و بی‌معنی می‌شود.» ص۶۷