SOURCE: “Wittgenstein’s Children: The Writings of Thomas Bernhard,” in Theater, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter, 1983, pp. 52–62.

In the following essay, Honegger discusses the influence of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein on Bernhard’s work and philosophy.

I with the German language this cloud around me that I keep as a house drive through all languages 

(Ingeborg Bachmann)

The stupidity of entrusting oneself to the German language, my dear Doctor— absurd! And not only the German language, I think, but still the German language above all. The stupidity resulting from German, I think. … …” 

(from Thomas Bernhard’s “Gargoyles”)

When I left Austria twenty years ago I thought that I could also escape my native language with all its historical resonances and traps as well as the stock temperament and mentality locked forever in its syntax and rhythm. It took over ten years before I ventured out of my voluntary exile in the...