De oorzaak

The first part of Bernhard's autobiography to be published (in 1975), and the second in chronological order, this deals with the years 1943-46 when he was boarding at school in Salzburg. The most controversial feature of the book when it appeared was the way Bernhard draws explicit parallels

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between the practice of National Socialism before the end of the war and the practice of Catholicism afterwards. In 1975, that was something Austrians were not keen to hear about their own country: Bernhard was condemned as a Nestverschmutzer and newspaper editorials called for his deportation. (He also found himself being sued for libel by a Catholic priest mentioned in the book: there are still various passages excised from the text by court order.)

If there were any justice in the world, this ought to be a terrible, depressing, negative book. It's filled from cover to cover with Bernhard's hatred for Salzburg, for his parents, for the education system. It's set partly in a time of destruction and gratuitous slaughter, partly in a time of starvation. It opens with a twenty-page celebration of suicide. But it isn't depressing: partly because of the sheer exuberance of Bernhard's exaggeration, partly through the amazing rhythmic energy of his writing, there is a perversely life-affirming, optimistic quality about his pessimism. Weird, and wonderful.

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