Which translation is "better"?

[Axolotl]

I find myself, having finished David McLintock's "Woodcutters", wanting to read the other translation "Cutting Timber". Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Paul]

Based on the most central sentence in the novel, I think "Cutting Timber" is better.
In McLintock's "Woodcutters", at the end the actor says
"the forest, the virgin forest, the life of a woodcutter".
In Ewald Oser's "Cutting Timber", the actor says
"Forest, tall forest, cutting timber."
The original German is "Wald. Hochwald. Hölzf allen."
Oser's seems to capture the feel of the sentence better, and I had a German speaker confirm this for me.
Another interesting thing about that book is that Auersberger is based on the real-life composer Gerhard Lampersberg, and this led to a lawsuit. The German wikipedia page about the book has more info (and Google translate works really well on it.)

[Axolotl]

Paul, I can't thank you enough for this response, I thought I'd have to wait for ages!
I'll make it the last book I (re)read on the "Thomas Bernhard Marathon" which I am currently well into. I've not read anything which wasn't by Herr Bernhard since Christmas Day. Having just savored the last few madness inducing pages of "The Lime Works", it's on to "Old Masters" or perhaps "The Loser".
That is a really interesting titbit about Auersberger, he was certainly a colorful creation--not wholly a creation, apparently.
I actually have found more, of what I like to term "multivalence", in The Woodcutters than in other of the man's books. I think--the still excellent--"Yes" was actually the bleakest I've yet read by him. The great thing about Bernhard is that, although "bleakness" is a sort of unifying motif to his work, that is not all that there is to find in him.
You're right about Google translate, of course: I've found very much the same thing about its readability.

[Paul]

Glad I could help! Probably after Woodcutters my favourite Bernhard so far is Wittgenstein's Nephew. I've got Yes on my shelf and it's next.

[Axolotl]

I'm reading The Loser now but have Wittgenstein's Nephew on order and am going to read it next for two key reasons: it's supposed to be one of his best and most personal works (though all his characters are pretty much versions of himself and therefore personal) and one of his shortest. I wouldn't be on this marathon since Christmas, if I didn't love the man's work but a shorter novel will be appreciated, especially before taking on Correction or Extinction which loom somewhere, ominously on the summit of my Bernhard saturation job...er...marathon.