January 17, 2012
Thomas Bernhard /// Gargoyles What makes a two-act novel ballsy where a two-act play is rote has not yet become entirely clear, but in this particular case it’s Bernhard’s willingness, amid grandly digressive modernism, to set out on a digression—a shaggy monologue, no less—that never ends. The mad prince who hijacks the story does, naturally, circle back to the secret nerve of father-son distances, but declines to allow the book its vector once more; he whirls, he whirls; the narrative has touched its own third rail.

Thomas Bernhard /// Gargoyles

What makes a two-act novel ballsy where a two-act play is rote has not yet become entirely clear, but in this particular case it’s Bernhard’s willingness, amid grandly digressive modernism, to set out on a digression—a shaggy monologue, no less—that never ends. The mad prince who hijacks the story does, naturally, circle back to the secret nerve of father-son distances, but declines to allow the book its vector once more; he whirls, he whirls; the narrative has touched its own third rail.

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  1. vintagebookmarket reblogged this from thenotes
  2. pikolasfarleo reblogged this from thenotes and added:
    sounds fascinating.
  3. This was featured in #Lit
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