The narrator, a scientist working on antibodies and suffering from
emotional and mental illness, meets a Persian woman, the companion of a
Swiss engineer, at an office in rural Austria. For the scientist, his
endless talks with the strange Asian woman mean release from his
condition, but for the Persian woman, as her own circumstances
deteriorate, there is only one answer.
Thomas Bernhard was one of the few major writers of the second half of
this century.--Gabriel Josipovici, Independent
With his death, European letters lost one of its most perceptive,
uncompromising voices since the war.--Spectator
Widely acclaimed as a novelist, playwright, and poet, Thomas Bernhard
(1931-89) won many of the most prestigious literary prizes of Europe,
including the Austrian State Prize, the Bremen and Brüchner prizes, and
Le Prix Séguier.