Correction (Phoenix Fiction Series)

Rating:
Summary: With special attention to the Cone.
Review: As someone who is almost obsessed with Ludwig Wittgenstein, I really wanted to get something out of it. But I could not finish it. Like all of Bernhards works it is page after page of dense prose (no paragraph breaks) and a truly depressing story (which I did not finish.) I have read that Bernhard is considered a master of german prose--maybe this is one of those authors who suffers much in translation. If you want to try something by Bernhard, I reccomend WITTGENSTEIN'S NEPHEW, which is just as difficult but is short enough to plow through.

Rating:
Summary: Thus Roithamer
Review: Bernhard's novel "Correction" tells us the story of two friends. The main character, Roithamer, commit suicide (as we know from the first page of the book) and his friend (the person who tells the story) take charge of his legacy: A huge mass of calculations and thinkings about the construction of a Cone (in the center of a forest called Kobernauss) for the "supreme happiness" of Roithamer' sister (who is expected to dwell in it). Following this main idea Bernhard writes a superb novel dealing with the loneliness of an exceptional man in a stupid, brutal and destructive society that consider mad to those people with true artistic and intellectual interests. Strong thoughts and strong beauty are the main virtues of this book. I have read almost all the works by Thomas Bernhard and this one, I think, is the kernel of all his production. It is, maybe, his greatest masterpiece (in narrative) besides his five-volume autobiography. We encounter, here, for example, that wild irony and humour of his plays for the scene and all his personal universe and obsessions.
I will say nothing of Mdme.Wilkins translation as I think that there is no alternative for reading this novel in English. Translating Bernhard is very difficult. Long sentences, with periodic and obsessive motives which repeat and repeat producing an amazing and incredible effect. Bernhard is a master of rhythm and precision and his style is a musical one.

Rating:
Summary: Thus Roithamer
Review: Bernhard's novel "Correction" tells us the story of two friends. The main character, Roithamer, commit suicide (as we know from the first page of the book) and his friend (the person who tells the story) take charge of his legacy: A huge mass of calculations and thinkings about the construction of a Cone (in the center of a forest called Kobernauss) for the "supreme happiness" of Roithamer' sister (who is expected to dwell in it). Following this main idea Bernhard writes a superb novel dealing with the loneliness of an exceptional man in a stupid, brutal and destructive society that consider mad to those people with true artistic and intellectual interests. Strong thoughts and strong beauty are the main virtues of this book. I have read almost all the works by Thomas Bernhard and this one, I think, is the kernel of all his production. It is, maybe, his greatest masterpiece (in narrative) besides his five-volume autobiography. We encounter, here, for example, that wild irony and humour of his plays for the scene and his deep view of the world. Yes, "depth" is the magical word dealing with Bernhard works. And against the depth is all the superfluidity and foolishness of the surroundings in our way of life. Superfluidity which threatens us in every moment wanting to kill us intellectually and spiritually. Only knowledge can save us but then (considering knowledge only) our life is difficult when not terrible.
I will say nothing of Mdme. Wilkins translation as I think that there is no alternative for reading this novel in English. Translating Bernhard is very difficult. Long sentences, with periodic and obsessive motives which repeat and repeat producing an amazing and incredible effect. Bernhard is a master of rhythm and precision and his style is a musical one.

Rating:
Summary: dense, but worth the trouble
Review: i find it funny that a reviewer below has an affection for wittgenstein but a dislike for bernhard, claiming bernhard is more difficult. that gives you some idea of how bernhard is; his difficulty is that of a philosophical treatise, and not as of tiny little aphorisms. but both writers, thinkers, deserve the same amount of intense thinking and mulling over. this book is something you cannot read for hours on end, if simply because looking at no paragraph breaks hurts the eyes. but if one has read philosophical treatises before then this work should be easy to handle. orther than that, namely, considering the content of the work it is masterful. not only that, bernhard presents his unique ideas in a masterful way. when i first read this book i found it annoying and difficult, much the same way i thought of ulysses when i first read it, but after reading bernhard's other works i was free to consider it a masterpeice. something that deserves work and is rewarding. one of my all time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: dense, but worth the trouble
Review: i find it funny that a reviewer below has an affection for wittgenstein but a dislike for bernhard, claiming bernhard is more difficult. that gives you some idea of how bernhard is; his difficulty is that of a philosophical treatise, and not as of tiny little aphorisms. but both writers, thinkers, deserve the same amount of intense thinking and mulling over. this book is something you cannot read for hours on end, if simply because looking at no paragraph breaks hurts the eyes. but if one has read philosophical treatises before then this work should be easy to handle. orther than that, namely, considering the content of the work it is masterful. not only that, bernhard presents his unique ideas in a masterful way. when i first read this book i found it annoying and difficult, much the same way i thought of ulysses when i first read it, but after reading bernhard's other works i was free to consider it a masterpeice. something that deserves work and is rewarding. one of my all time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: With special attention to the Cone.
Review: This novel is essentially about a man (two men, really, in sequence although at times it feels like the narrator is of one piece) in a little dark room who cannot turn his brain off and has an incessant need to share it with you (the reader). I found the passage about the stuffing of the big black bird to be incredibly hilarious. People who aspire to be well-read must put Thomas Bernhard on the top of their reading list. Adjectives like obsession and neurotic don't do this particular book justice. I've read most of Bernhard's books (as translated in English) and this is certainly one of his strongest. I recommend this book to everyone -- graduate students, widows, orphans, the mentally ill, little children. Five stars absolutely.

Rating:
Summary: Not as funny as other Bernhard novels but a good read
Review: Two science academics, one dead one alive, get themselves in a first person singular dither about all kinds of things - siblings, mothers, neighbours, aloneness, the point of existence, suicide, parents, self, the apparent conflict in EVERYTHING including their own minds. Reminiscent of Bach insofar as repetition, and exploration and improvisation on a theme apply. If you like Beckett, stream of consciousness, psychology, Freud, music, philosophy, and a solid read, this book, as one of the protaganists explains, is what it is.