I had a rough start with this, but ended up being moved by it - something I was not expecting. Bernhard writes one long, no paragraphs or page breaks, rant about the state of Austrian society and culture. This rant is by a man, Reger, in his 80s who goes daily to an Austrian art museum to sit in front of one painting, Tintoretto's White-Bearded Man. His rant is retold by a friend, Atzbatcher - an interesting authorial device in itself - sort of removes the reader one step. We know also that Reger's wife has recently died.

Reger rants about many things: Austrian bathrooms, Austrian government, Austrian composers (spoiler - he's not a fan of Brucker or Mahler), Austrian authors, Austrian artists, and the Austrian people themselves, among other topics. This was amusing at times, especially the topics I had better context for, and really annoying at times. It's very repetitive, which does help hammer the points home.

So just when I was about to give up and skim to the end, the details of Reger's wife's death start to come out. And then I was hooked. Lots of things become clear about just why Reger is so annoyed with Austria and why he's been ranting specifically about some of his topics. You also understand his anger is mixed with grief. It's all very moving and is a realistic portrait of grief, which is rarely just sadness and often includes anger.

I did not find this an easy book to read, but I am very glad I read it and think it will be a memorable book for me. ( )

Der Großmeister der schlechten Laune. Passieren tut wirklich überhaupt gar nichts, aber alles ist furchtbar. Österreich, die Österreicher, die Kunst, das Essen, die Toiletten und die Menschen. Ich hab Lachtränen in den Augen beim Lesen, bis zum allerletzten Satz, der das Sahnehäubchen auf dieser Tiraden-Torte ist. Besonders im Lichte der Lektüre weiterer Romane von Bernhard (die ja auch zumeist glänzende Perlen des Gemeckers über die Erbärmlichkeit der Welt und insbesondere der Kunst sind) fällt auf, dass das hier kein wahlloser Rant ist, denn was in dem einen Roman vernichtend in Grund und Boden gegrantelt wird, kann im nächsten schon wieder wohlwollend gelobt werden. Eine Satire und Liebeserklärung zugleich an das freie Recht, alles doof zu finden, was einem so von der Welt angeboten wird. Feuer frei! ( )

The 1985 comedy novel by Thomas Bernhard is a monologue. One long drawn out paragraph of sentences with multiple use of commas. It is an interesting story but the style makes it work to read. The story is about Reger as told by his Artzbacher who is mostly directly quoting Reger. Reger is an old man, he is a musicologist. Artzbacher is a philosopher. Reger is quite negative and disillusioned with life. The story mostly occurs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, specifically in the Bordone Room where the "White Bearded Man" by Tintoretto is on display. Reger is quite negative but he did like an Englishman he met in the Bordone Room, his wife who he met in the Bordone Room, and Irrsigler, the guard for the museum who made sure that Reger had access to the Bordone Room and to Artzbacher.
Subjects covered: Rational criticism of society and its manifestations: past love, music ( Bruckner ) and art in general ( Stifter ), philosophy ( Heidegger ), kitsch and sentimentality, religion, justice, the state, stupidity, cleanliness in Austrian toilets.
I did really like the section on Reger's love of his wife and her death. Perhaps his attitude is colored by his deep grief. ( )

Thomas Bernhard is the sole reason I actually enjoy having german as a mother tongue. His usage of the german language is just phenomenal. There are not many writers in the german speaking areas that can write like he does. ( )

Second rate Bernhard, which is a bit like saying that the two-inch slice a foot from the end of the three-foot long salami is not as good as the two-inch slice six inches to the right. It's all salami. Still, I won't rush to re-read this one. ( )