- Paperback: 189 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books USA (17 Oct 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1400077540
- ISBN-13: 978-1400077540
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 1.4 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 201,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
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 Loser centers 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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bernhard is the undisputed genius of indifference.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Loser: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
Thomas Bernhard approaches his best ever form in this book. It charts with extreme bitterness, and self-loathing the progress of an old-man as he lumbers around 'in the inn'. It is a work of undisputable genius, as Bernhard's lines seem to go on for ever, almost crazed in its style, but somehow darkly brilliant. This piece cannot be categorised as a 'serious' work - on the contrary! It is the funniest book I have ever read, and the italicised rants 'the deterioration process', 'a professional aphorist' etc. and the indifference with which the narrator approaches the subject, but continues with a venomous indifference is pure entertainment, and pure ridiculousness.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Peculiar intensity,
By Black Glove "Symphonic Longfingers" (Lancashire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Loser (Vintage International) (Paperback)
This is my second Thomas Bernhard novel, and whilst reading it my liking for his unique prose style increased. An unnamed narrator walks into an inn and talks to himself about his two best friends (one being Glenn Gould the famous piano virtuoso, the other being Wertheimer "the loser" who has committed suicide by hanging himself near his sister's house). The obsessional, repetitive and funny thoughts of the unnamed narrator continue for half the novel whilst he stands in the inn: it must be the longest wait for a drink in history! Eventually the landlady sees him and it isn't long before he has moved on, both physically and mentally, to the subject of Wertheimer's decline and suicide. It all sounds grim and pointless, but it's surprisingly engaging, especially for the reader who has a liking for cynicism and unhinged rambling: the word "cretinism" pops up quite a lot. Overall, I didn't find The Loser as satisfying as "Correction" (my first TB novel), it isn't as deep or disturbing, but still I was impressed by the peculiar intensity of it all.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books by this wonderful writer,
By "pbowes9116" (Wales, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Loser: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction) (Paperback)
Bernhard is still relatively little known to the Anglo-American audience, but I believe he is the most serious contender for the inheritor of the mantle of Celine and Beckett. In 'The Loser' he produces a heartbreaking meditation on the demands the pursuit of an art at the highest level places upon an honest devotee. I have never encountered a more clear-sighted study of human failure depicted with an utter lack of sentimentality or self-pity. In this book Bernhard disposes definitively of the charges of heartlessness and flippancy which are sometimes laid at his door.
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