Bases conceptuales.

inexplicable experiences of happiness or transcendence (Tschapke 60). Furthermore, "Mythe, Ritual, Einweihung, Helden, ritueller Tod, Regeneration,

Wiedergeburt " have become part of the "Grundterminologie der literarischen

Exegese ", he says, and have even been consciously incorporated into the fiction of

modern writers who have studied the social sciences or psychology (one thinks, for example, of the symbol-laden work of Michel Tournier, which employs, often in a playful manner, much of this terminology). It is probably fair to say, however, that this was not a special area of interest for Bernhard ; but the stress on death as an inescapable fact, which is found throughout his work, perhaps loses some of its negative overtones when the idea of "death" is interpreted symbolically, as in esoteric traditions such as alchemy ; i.e. as the necessary stage to be lived through in order that a renewed and vital personality may emerge. This is also, no doubt, a common enough conclusion in psychoanalytically-oriented criticism^^, but here it is given a new twist by the parallels which are drawn by Tschapke between initiation and individuation as related and open-ended processes. Evidence is found for this standpoint in the gradual movement in Bernhard's work, from the seemingly completely negative, isolated and doom-laden atmosphere of the earlier prose works, through the "opening-up" which permits a less veiled expression of personal feelings in the plays and autobiographical works of the 1970s, to the lighter, uninhibited and generally more easily assimilable work of the 1980s - a view echoed in the critical judgments of Reich-Ranicki^^ and others. But, if Tschapke is careful to relativise the results of the initiatoiy process at the end of his thesis by reminding the reader that initiation in this sense has less to do with salvation than with survival, so the fact that Bernhai'd, in Ein Kind, "berichtet

ausgeglichen und Obsessionenfrei " (Tschapke 110) could mean that in conquering

3^ To say nothing of earlier literary usage of the metaphor of death and rebirth - for example,

"Stirb und werde!" from Goethe's Selige Sehnsucht

39Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Thomas Bernhards entgegengesetzte Richtung. In : Entgegnung. Zur deutschen Literatur der siebziger Jahre. Stuttgart 1979

some of his personal demons he has robbed himself of the most powerful impetus for his writing. Certainly critics such as Sorgho, in discussing his fiction of the 1980s, seem to support this viewpoint, accusing him of repeating his earlier themes and of trying too hard to please his audience.

These criticisms refer to the works which followed the autobiographical series, however. Yet it is possible to argue that, given the nature, and the consequences, of the key experiences portrayed in these books, any further development would be difficult. After all, as Bernhard admits (Ur 62), it had taken him the best part of three decades to come to terms with them, and he was never to entirely recover from the cycle of illnesses which began in the "Keller" - the setting for the second volume of the autobiographical series.

Per Keller

Die Ursache ends with the fifteen-year-old's decision to put an end to his "Leidenszeit" by leaving the Gymnasium and instead visiting the Arbeitsamt , where he is offered an apprenticeship with the grocer Karl Podlaha, whose premises are in the "feuchte{ r) Keller" mentioned in the Autobio graphische Notiz. In the end he does contract the serious illness which begins the four year s he will spend in hospitals and sanatoria - this, he claims, is his own fault (Ke 106-7). But, as Der Keller shows, Bernhard benefits from his change of direction. Indeed the change is emphasised in the text, with the repetition, with minor variations, of the phrase "in die entgegengesetzte Richtung " - according to Bugmann, it appears twenty-one times. Bernhai'd is insistent too that "ich ging meinen Weg ", the route to his job being "der Weg zu mir...", in contrast to the journey to the Gymnasium,

which leads, literally and figuratively, in the opposite direction, "aus mir heraus und von mir weg,... ich war auf die sen Weg gezwungen warden von meinen

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Erziehern, von meinen Verwaltern, von meinen Vermogensverwaltern..."(Ke 19-

20). This emphasises, too, his act of will in opposing the path laid down for him by his grandfather ; indeed, he is insistent that this is no mere teenage whim but an

"instinktiv" (Ke 88) move which proves, in retrospect, to be the right decision.

His "Kehrtwendung " is, he says, a "lebensrettende(r) Augenblick ", and, having

accustomed himself to the role of outsider at school he can sympathise with the inhabitants of the slum district in which Podlaha's shop is situated - the Scherzhauserfeldsiedlung , a "Schmutzfleck, zusammengesetzt aus Hunger,

Verbrechen und Dreck " (Ke 26), as he luridly describes it. After the rarefied and

inhibited atmosphere of home and school, dominated respectively by his grandfather (whose obsessive writing leads him to behave like a tyrant when at

work{Ke 72-73}) and by teachers whom he fears and despises, he comes to Is appreciate the openness of the inhabitants and is fascinated by the reality of what is

to him a new world. The fact that "respectable" citizens of Salzburg despise the district and its people only adds to its attraction for him ; he tells us that he is happy

in his job because he was able to be "wie ich war" (Ke 861 emphasising the || contr ast between this and the dissimulation and conformity required at home, which

at this time is a "Holle " for him (Ke 68-69), and at the Gvmnasium - "die Personlichkeit war plotzUch nicht mehr von den Regeln des bürgerlichen Gesellschaftsapparates, der ein menschenverheerender Apparat ist, niedergemacht

und zermalmt..." (Ke 86-7)

Yet this rebellion may nevertheless seem unusual in many respects ; Bernhard's adolescence, if it corresponds to the account given in his autobiography, must have taken place during the chaos and turbulence of the mid- and late 1940s, as Wendt remarks, the "Zeit der Lebensmittelkarten, der kleinen

und grofien Schiebereien, als eigentlich ein jeder ein bifichen kriminell ist" - yet

still a time when Austrian teenagers, particularly in traditional middle-class families, did not generally rebel against the wishes of their parents. Despite the portrayals of

adult inhabitants of the Scherzhauserfeldsiedlung (e.g Ke 78-86)41. there is no hint in the books of any kind of "youth culture", such as that of, for example, the teenage gangs which emerged in French and German cities (or, indeed, in Vienna) during the wartime period ; in any case, it would be doubtful whether the loner Bernhard, at this stage still the traditionalist in his desire to pursue a musical career, would appreciate the solidarity (and conformity) of such groups. He does not seem to have many friends of his own age, describing the difficulties he had in overcoming the mistrust of Podlaha, his assistant Herbert and the apprentice Karl. Nevertheless, he still looked back on that period, with his turning away from a pre­ determined career path and first attempt to assert his independence, as the most significant of his life ; he finds a new "Mentor" in Podlaha, the "Meister im

Menschenkontakt " (Ke 75) under whose guidance he feels "nUtzlich " for the first

time in his life, and overcomes the "Kontaktschwierigkeiten " which, he now reveals, were a consequence of the inhibiting and sometimes tyrannical manner of his grandfather - his home life at this time was, he tells us, particularly fraught42.. (The portrait of his grandfather given in Der Keller [Ke 71-72] bears a close resemblance not only to the obsessive figures at the centre of many of Bernhard's fictional works, but also to the author himself - the grandfather too is

"lungenkrank”, is haunted by suicidal thoughts and sees writing as "den Kampf

mit dem Tode aufnehmen” , yet refuses to give way to despair, struggling

ceaselessly to complete his life's work). Tschapke also draws attention to the role of the observer adopted by Bernhard in the series, tracing its origins back to his

41See Anon. : Scherzhauserfeldsiedlung 1st iiber Bernhard-Roman emport. “Keller”-Kaufmann

bedroht. Salzburger Volkszeitung. lO.November 1976, for a description of how Bernhard’s

characterisations - or stylisations - angered some of the inhabitants of this district and led to the

real Karl Podlaha receiving threats, because he was suspected - much to his own surprise- of

having inspired his former apprentice’s negative views.

42 Mauch (1980, 102) sees this remark as typical of Bernhard’s reluctance to do more than hint at his personal and family circumstances during the period covered by the first two books of the series - although numerous hints in Der Keller do give the alert reader some indications of his unhappiness.

childhood, when the boy's natural quality of direct observation is nurtured by his %

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