tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post952208119355403617..comments2024-03-18T16:55:31.971+00:00Comments on This Space: "my then completely empty house"Stephen Mitchelmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-66196034647158192342009-02-11T21:06:00.000+00:002009-02-11T21:06:00.000+00:00Please forgive the failings of the essay. If I had...Please forgive the failings of the essay. If I had known then it would still be online ten years later ...<BR/><BR/>Of course, Bernhard could not have been English. If one has existed, he or she is as invisible to us as Allied bombing of German cities.Stephen Mitchelmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-20433812176474717702009-02-11T21:00:00.000+00:002009-02-11T21:00:00.000+00:00Steve, It's good that we in the English speaking w...Steve, It's good that we in the English speaking world remember the Austrian author Thomas Bernhard. We shouldn't forget that he was born into the Alpine tradition of Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. World War II was just an unfortunate event. "Let's put it all behind us," says the good Burgermeister in the bar of the zum Lodenmantel. "Pretend it never happened. Of course Uncle Fritz didn't come back from Stalingrad. Well, that's ok, his photo is in the church." <BR/>It's a small miracle that Bernhard achieved what he achieved. Someone had to shake up the establishment. And if not Bernhard, then who? Austria need Bernhard and Bernhard needed Austria. It was a mutual enterprise of sorts. <BR/>To celebrate the 20th year I'm going to translate a poem from Gesammelte Gedichte. I haven't decided which one yet. And the other thing I'm going to do is read your 7 pages of 'Failing to Go Under'.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.com