Cover of The Loser

The Loser

Thomas Bernhard was one of the most original writers of the twentieth century. His formal innovation ranks with Beckett and Kafka, his outrageously cantankerous voice recalls Dostoevsky, but his gift for lacerating, lyrical, provocative prose is incomparably his own.

One of Bernhard's most acclaimed novels, The Losercenters on a fictional relationship between piano virtuoso Glenn Gould and two of his fellow students who feel compelled to renounce their musical ambitions in the face of Gould's incomparable genius. One commits suicide, while the other— the obsessive, witty, and self-mocking narrator— has retreated into obscurity. Written as a monologue in one remarkable unbroken paragraph, The Loser is a brilliant meditation on success, failure, genius, and fame.

Genre
literary fiction
Themes
musicartsuicide
Setting
1980scanadagermanyaustriaeuropean
Subject
philosophy
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 208 pages
Form
novella

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