A collection of previously untranslated stories from a master of
twentieth-century Austrian literature, Thomas Bernhard.
"The cold increases with the clarity," said Thomas Bernhard while
accepting a major literary prize in 1965. That clarity was the postwar
realization that the West's last remaining cultural reference points
were being swept away by the ever-greater commodification of humankind.
Collecting five stylistically transitional tales by Bernhard, all of
which take place in sites of extreme cold, this volume extends that
bleak vision of the master Austrian storyteller.
In "Ungenach," the reluctant heir of an enormous estate chooses to give
away his legacy to an assortment of oddballs as he discovers the past of
his older brother, who was murdered during a career in futile
colonialist philanthropy. In "The Weatherproof Cape," a lawyer tries to
maintain a sense of familial solidarity with a now-dead client with the
help of an unremarkable piece of clothing. "Midland in Stilfs" casts a
jaundiced eye on the laughable efforts of a cosmopolitan foreigner to
attain local authenticity on a moribund Alpine farmstead. In "At the
Ortler," two middle-aged brothers--one a scientist, the other an
acrobat--meditate on their unusual career paths while they climb a
mountain to reclaim a long-abandoned family property. And in "At the
Timberline," the unexpected arrival of a young couple in a mountain
village leads to the discovery of a scandalous crime that casts a shadow
on the personal life of the policeman investigating it.
