Thomas Bernhard and the City of Dreams
Thomas Bernhard and Wittgenstein Notes
Thomas Bernhard came into my life as I was walking across the grounds of a mental hospital in August. Located on top of a wooded hill (Ah, the Vienna Woods!), the Kirche am Steinhof is part of what is a sprawling psychiatric hospital--one of the largest in Europe. Completed in 1907, it is also the location of what is considered one of the most important Art Nouveau churches in the world. And it was here that a dear friend of mine went on a first date with a man with whom she fell madly in love many years ago. I thought it was an awfully unusual spot for a first date. But my friend assured me: it had been perfect--and more, that they were still going strong even now, decades later. I had never been on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital before. The guard inquired if we wanted to see the church: Kirche? We nodded, and he pointed up the hill. There were maybe a dozen old buildings, each set within its own grove of trees, dotting the extensive grounds. The church was visible through the shade trees lining the gravel path up the hill. It's golden dome--recently renovated-- was gleaming in the brilliant sunlight, and I could easily understand why the locals called it: limoniberg (the lemon hill). A cheerful place --but then later I found out it also had a terrible history. This happened during the Nazi years, when Steinhof Hospital became the staging point for the death camps. A heartbreaking history of hospital beds emptied of children and adults deemed "untreatable" because of their ethnicity or for any so-called anti-social tendencies; this was where the now disgraced Dr. Hans Asperger did some of his dirty work. I had no idea about this dark history as I walked along the tree-lined path that sunny August day. All I was thinking was what a perfect setting for a novel the place would make. And sure enough, I would later learn, it had been just that; for this picturesque and strange place was the backdrop for my favorite novel by Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard. Wittgenstein's Nephew (1982), is set over several months in 1967, when the hospital was comprised of two units: the pulmonary disease clinic and the sprawling psychiatric institution.
Wittgenstein's Nephew bowled me over completely--and it led to several other novels by Bernhard: Old Masters, Old Masters Graphic Novel, Wittgenstein's Nephew, Yes, Correction, and Goethe Dies. It also led to Gita Honngeger incredible biography: Thomas Bernhard: The Making of an Austrian. This then led to a fantastic biography of the Wittgensteins by Evelyn Waugh's grandson, called the House of Wittgenstein; as well as Kandel's Age of Insight and Carl Schorske's classic, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna.
For me, the best part about this narrative journey was being able to be reacquainted to the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. I had briefly studied Wittgenstein as part of my undergraduate degree in philosophy but I confess I had mainly forgotten him. So, the narrative totem pole ended with several books on Wittgenstein's philosophy, as well as philosophical connections to Heidegger. I am still finishing this tower up and need to catch up on my reviews! I also have a long post on Bernhard and Vienna.