Michael Hofmann on Thomas Bernhard: Missing the Point

I was disappointed in Hofmann’s article on Bernhard, Reger Said, in the LRB, not only because it neglects the most important aspects of Bernhard’s work, but also because it seems to confirm so many preconceptions ...

Michael Haneke: The White Ribbon

I do not have to pay $3.50 to find out what it feels like to be a Jew.      George S. Kaufman on Gentleman’s Agreement I do not like Michael Haneke. I do not like his ...

John Williams: Butcher’s Crossing

Butcher’s Crossing is the most flawed, the most peculiar, and the most exuberant of Williams’ three mature novels (he disowned a first novel, which I have not read). Unlike the near-perfect tenors of the academic ...

Bernhard on Heidegger

And speaking of Heidegger, here is the much less subtle Thomas Bernhard on him, from the always amusing Old Masters: I always visualize him sitting on his wooden bench outside his Black Forest house, alongside ...

Attila Bartis: Tranquility

This book just won the Three Percent Best Translation of 2008 prize, and while I can’t speak to the translation (though I have it on good authority that it’s excellent–thanks GJ), I was happy to ...

Ecumenicality

The Clown Program Has Been Put on Hiatus for Retooling