Thomas Bernhard

It is 1967. In separate wings of a Viennese hospital, two men lie bedridden. The narrator, named Thomas Bernhard, is stricken with a lung ailment; his friend Paul, nephew of the celebrated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, is suffering from one of his periodic bouts of madness. As their once-casual friendship quickens, …

A collection of personal writings, originally penned in 1980, recounts farces that developed around literary awards received by the late author, from his ungracious participation in ceremonies to the improper ways he spent prizes.