Woodcutters (Phoenix Fiction Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author), David McLintock (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The narrator of this story, which is told in a demanding, nonstop stream of consciousness, is a writer who finds himself roped into a dinner party thrown by people he has avoided for 20 years. Spurning conversation, he reviews his grievances against his hosts and their pretentious guests in what PW termed "a satirical jeremiad."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the last decade, Bernhard (born in 1931) has become one of the most acclaimed writers and playwrights of his generation. Originally published in Austria in 1984, this novel is a biting satire of a contemporary Viennese "artistic dinner" held in honor of a famous actor from the Burgtheater. The evening unfolds before us through the monologic and monomaniacal mediation of one of the guests, the middle-aged writer-narrator. In typical Bernhardian fashion the narrator is moved by hatred and affection for a society that he believes destroys the very artistic genius it purports to glorify. A superb translation; highly recommended for literature collections. Ulrike S. Rettig, Wellesley Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (February 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226043967
• ISBN-13: 978-0226043968
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #689,613 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Bernhard's best books, August 24, 2000

By	Joerg Colberg (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Woodcutters is definitely my favourite novel by Thomas Bernhard. It is Thomas Bernhard at his best. He got sued by former friends of his when he published the book so as in many of his books the narrator is very close to or maybe even identical with Thomas Bernhard himself.

Basically, the book consists of two parts. In the first part, the narrator sits in a chair and watches his hosts plus their other guests waiting for an actor to have dinner. The narrator had bumped into his hosts whom he hadn't seen for many years and they had invited him to join their dinner. A mutual friend of them had just committed suicide so he had felt obliged to join them - much to his regret. The second part describes the actual dinner. However, most of the book consists of what the narrator is thinking about his former friends, about friendships in general and about relationships between people. This nearly endless rant evolves around every possible aspect and like a surgeon Bernhard cuts deep into what everybody takes for granted and lays open treachery, lies, and hypocrisy (If you believe in family values and in a good world, this book might disturb you quite a bit!). As I mentioned before, old friends of Bernhard's sued him when the book was published because it was too obvious he was actually referring to them - and he was showing them in a way nobody would possibly want to be shown. This is not to say that Bernhard is necessarily a misanthrop. Quite surprisingly, when the narrator leaves the dinner table abruptly, he runs back home "through Vienna the city I loved like no other city" - quite a surprise after his Vienna-bashing. To me, Thomas Bernhard always was a deeply disturbed person who hated the world because it wasn't as nice as he wanted to believe it was.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Bernhard, January 13, 2000

By	G. Faville "gfav611" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

I first read about Thomas Bernhard in a tribute to and general review of his works in believe it or not Details magazine, back in the days when it was slightly more intellectual, and less hairspray and BS. I was very intrigued by what the reviewer said about his writing style, which used little punctuation and basically no paragraph indentations. I was also turned on by the fact that he was originally trained as a musician (as I am), and apparently constructed his writing in a parallel fashion to the structures of music. The review below is excellent, but it refers to Bernhard's novel Gargoyles (and maybe should have one of those italicized Amazon messages saying this refers to a different book by the author), which in my opinion was a little harder to get into, but is still a fascinating book, as the reviewer relates very well. The plot of Woodcutters revolves around a musician who has experienced the suicide of a very close friend. The entire book takes place from the corner of a room where the musician sits at a party, and we are allowed into his mind as he relates the unfolding of what turns out to be a fairly disastrous evening among people he has learned to despise over the time since the death of his friend. The people at the party are all artists and musicians as well, and for those of you who have spent some time in the arts community you will relate to some of the observations the narrator makes about these folks (you will enjoy it even if you aren't an artist, though). The book is dark, cynical, and funny. I can't imagine there would be anyone who couldn't relate to a few things in this novel in this day and age. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, to be a lumberjack!, September 11, 2003

By	Hovig J. Heghinian (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Woodcutters" is the personal narrative of an Austrian composer and member of educated Austrian society, disturbed by the artificiality of city life, yearning for the simplicity of the country, and envious of those who see beauty so effortlessly in the simple things in life (1984). The book is written in Thomas Bernhard's curmudgeonly signature style, a rambling chaotic monologue, one episode following the other in darting succession, building the story one parcel at a time, culminating in a climax less of action than philosophical insight (1931-1989, Austria).

The narrator (clearly a proxy for Bernhard) sits aloof and alone, in a comfortable chair at a cocktail party, held in honor of a famous actor performing on a local stage. The actor arrives after a lengthy delay, and the group sits down to a midnight dinner, where the actor engages the group in charming, if stilted, conversation. Through it all, the effusive narrator volunteers how much he hates being there, how much he hates his hosts (while complaining how much he once loved them), how much he hates Austrian bourgeois society, and so on, until the party ends, the actor leaves, and the narrator sums up his thoughts. Hardly naive, he realizes most people don't much like him either, but also apologetic, he doesn't much care.

The work is a meditation on artificiality, playing on the contrast between the artifice of city life and the authenticity of the rural, and questioning whether the actor is still play-acting, even in this "casual" setting. Like other Bernhard works, it is written without a single paragraph break in all of its 181 pages. While interesting and capable, this work's conclusion and final insight is not as powerful or effective as those of works such as "Yes," "Extinction," or "Wittgenstein's Nephew." Also, it might have made more sense to English-language readers if the title were "Lumberjacks," to suggest its central conflict more clearly.