The Correspondence

Edited by Raimund Fellinger, Martin Huber and Julia Ketterer

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Correspondences

Literary

Thomas Bernhard , Siegfried Unseld

The Correspondence / Der Briefwechsel Thomas Bernhard/Siegfried Unseld

Edited by Raimund Fellinger, Martin Huber and Julia Ketterer

»We agree as each of us maintains our position.« Siegfried Unseld to Thomas Bernhard, 21.12.1972

»If anyone has been hoping for just one last undiscovered drama by Thomas Bernhard, here it is. Its title is Correspondence, its birth spanning from 1961 to Bernhard's death in 1989.« Die Zeit

The dramatic roster: an author who considers discord with his environment and unfettered self-interest necessary preconditions for writing and creative inspiration, and a publisher who has to provide him with the material preconditions for work and well-being while trying shield the publishing house from financial harm with the persuasiveness of his arguments. Having not received any feedback about his three poetry books but persuaded by his own phenomenal ability as a writer, Thomas Bernhard penned a letter to Siegfried Unself in October 1961, when he was 30 years old: »A couple of days ago, I sent a manuscript to your publishing house. I don’t know you, only a few people whom you know. But I’m going it alone.«

Although Suhrkamp rejected the manuscript, after the 1963 publication of Bernhard’s first novel Frost, the go-it-aloner and the publisher took the road together that led the author to a place in world literature.

In their approximately 500 letters a unique two-man act develops: Sometimes it is a tragedy, when, for instance Bernhard lets loose one of his insulting tirades, for which he is well-known in his writing, on the publisher who, for his part, put his money on the persuasiveness of the argument. Then Bernhard puts on a performance with Unseld as hero: in 1973, he wrote, »with great attentiveness, and with all possibilities, I gladly go with you.« In 1984, faced with the confiscation of Holzfällen they both acted as defenders of literature in a villainous play staged by others.

This dynamic dominates the relationship drama: The author makes non-negotiable demands concerning his work and himself. The publisher, for his part, knows that especially with Bernhard, inconsiderate self-centeredness is an inevitable precondition for productivity. Until now, the existence of such a dramatic exchange between author and publisher, in which everything is at stake with every line, was not known to the public.

»We have had to wait a long time for this book. It was worth the wait. Centuries from now […] our children's children will still be admiring this monument to German cultural history. ... The 869-pages of Thomas Bernhard’s correspondence, a true gift from God, recasts everything we'd known till now.« Frankfurter Rundschau

»A powerful, monstrous book. The high drama of this correspondence simultaneously presents us with both one of the best novels and one of the most heavenly tragic comedies of Thomas Bernhard's oeuvre, owing in part to one of the co-authors at work, a pro and antagonist of a rare caliber. Anyone not familiar with the nature and life accomplishments of Siegfried Unseld, one of the most exceptional publishers of the 20th century, is well aware thereafter.« Literarische Welt

»[Not] a document […] a monument.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»Great cinema, a publisher and his pugnacious author write one another. And themselves. Correspondence as Fight Club.« Florian Illies, Die Zeit

»What both champions present here is a true comédie humaine. As if concocted by a modern Molière.« Der Tagesspiegel

»Bernhard's highly enjoyable slalom of torture and whim, his style of overhauling, over exagerating and overabundance is as apparent in his correspondence with the publisher as in his other prose. There are more than 800 pages to the volume and hardly a pause to take a breath.« Süddeutsche Zeitung

»Anyone wanting to find out more about the conditional underpinnings of literature, about what it means to be a publisher and what a publisher of this magnitude has to be prepared to endure as an agent that makes something larger scale possible, will find the answers in this correspondence.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

»Their fight over money, feelings and work lasted a quarter of a century, until Unseld’s 1988 sigh, »I can't do it anymore.« Their correspondence is a one-of-a-kind documentation of their hate and love for each other. Reading it, one experiences Unseld’s finesse, endurance and generosity, as well as Bernhard’s ego and fury, vulnerability and obsessiveness as an artist.« Die Zeit

»Bernhard grumbles. Bernhard insults. Bernhard curses and goes for the throat. The publisher has to take quite a beating. We lie at his feet and caw is surrender: keep being so mean!« Die Welt

International press coverage:

»Las cartas desvelan la fascinante relación entre dos titanes de la cultura alemana del siglo XX [...] Unseld, hombre cultísimo y atento exégeta de las motivaciones de sus literatos, definió al timón de aquel barco la cultura alemana de su tiempo con una nómina de autores que incluyó a Hesse, Max Frisch, Bertolt Brecht.« El Pais

2009, 869 pages

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Correspondences

Literary

Thomas Bernhard

Author

Thomas Bernhard was born in Heerlen, the Netherlands, in 1931 and died in Gmunden, Austria, in 1989. He is one of the most important Austrian writers and was awarded the Büchner Prize (1970) and the Grimme Prize (1972), among many other accolades. Suhrkamp Verlag is in the process of publishing Thomas Bernhard's collected works in 22 volumes.

Thomas Bernhard

Author

Thomas Bernhard was born in Heerlen, the Netherlands, in 1931 and died in Gmunden, Austria, in 1989. He is one of the most important Austrian...

Siegfried Unseld

Author

Siegfried Unseld was born in 1924. From 1959 until his death in 2002 he was the publisher of Suhrkamp Verlag.

Siegfried Unseld

Author

Siegfried Unseld was born in 1924. From 1959 until his death in 2002 he was the publisher of Suhrkamp Verlag.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Year of Publication: 2020

Siegfried UnseldYear of Publication: 2020

Travel Reports

Ten days after Siegfried Unseld took over as publisher of Suhrkamp Verlag on April 1, 1959, he travels to East Berlin to visit Brecht’s widow Helene Weigel. Once returned, he dictates the first of...

Rights sold to:

Greece (Potamos)

Year of Publication: 2014

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 2014

The Public Bernhard

This edition presents the first comprehensive collection of all texts that Thomas Bernhard wrote for publication in the media between 1950 and 1989 – from his court reports from Salzburg in the fifties to the tirades against God and the rest of the world published in the sixties and seventies, to the interviews about his play Heldenplatz conducted shortly before his death.

Year of Publication: 2012

Peter Handke , Siegfried UnseldYear of Publication: 2012

The Correspondence

»I am happy to announce that after reading your manuscript closely, we have decided to pub-lish your work at Suhrkamp Verlag.« This letter in August 1965 was the start of a correspon-dence consisting of nearly 600 letters in which Peter Handke finally congratulated the pub-lisher on his 75th birthday.

In their letters that stretched a period of over 35 years, Peter Handke and Siegfried...

Year of Publication: 2010

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 2010

On the Trail of the Truth

Thomas Bernhard and the public sphere: scarcely a single utterance that didn’t provoke a scandal. This volume presents a selection of Bernhard’s most important pieces of journalism, letters...

Rights sold to:

Spanish world rights (Alianza), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Todavia), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Czech Republic (Prostor), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)

Year of Publication: 2010

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 2010

Goethe Dies

Thomas Bernhard did not live to see these stories published in book-form: he was too preoccupied with his monumental novel Extinction and the play Heldenplatz and the ensuing...

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English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Alianza), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Ijzer), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Serbia (Lom), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Kelefthos)

Year of Publication: 2009

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 2009

My Prizes

This hitherto unpublished comedic work shows Bernhard at the very top of his art: invective, flabbergasted, swearing and ridiculing. Thomas Bernhard quarrels with the world in general, the...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Knopf), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese (Companhia das Letras), Portugal (Bertrand), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Atlas), Denmark (Sisyfos), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Bokvennen), Finland (Teos), Japan (Misuzu Shobo), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Hungary (Kalligram), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Serbia (LOM), Slovenia (Studentska Zalozba), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Hestia)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Roof Music)

Year of Publication: 2006

Thomas Bernhard , Krista FleischmannYear of Publication: 2006

A Meeting

Thomas Bernhard rarely agreed to interviews in front of a camera. He did, however, appreciate the television journalist Krista Fleischmann as a sensitive interlocutor, with whom he produced two...

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Sweden (Svenska Thomas Bernhardsällskapet), Serbia (Red Box)

Year of Publication: 1991

Siegfried UnseldYear of Publication: 1991

Goethe and His Publishers

»Goethe and His Publishers organizes for the first time the myriad details of Goethe's career in print. Director of the German publishing company Suhrkamp Verlag, Siegfried Unseld...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Chicago UP), Spanish world rights (Galaxia Gutenberg), Chinese simplex rights (Yunnan), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Japan (Hosei UP)

Year of Publication: 1986

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1986

Extinction

Extinction is the title of an account that Franz-Josef Murau wrote during the last year of his life in Rome and that Thomas Bernhard made public. These notes were absolutely essential to...

Rights sold to:

USA (Knopf), UK (Faber & Faber), Spanish world rights (Alfaguara), Catalan (El Gall), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Sistema Solar), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Ijzer), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Japan (Misuzu Shobo), Vietnam (Tao Dan), Poland (Od Do), Czech Republic (Prostor), Hungary (Kalligram), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Estonia (Varrak), Croatia (Meandar), Serbia (LOM), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Albania/Kosovo (OM)

Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Denmark (Husets), Korea (Hyeonamsa), Romania (ART), Slovenia (Maribor), Israel (Schocken)

Year of Publication: 1985

Siegfried UnseldYear of Publication: 1985

The Author and His Publisher

»As head of Suhrkamp Verlag, a premier German publishing house, Siegfried Unseld is eminently qualified to write about the relationship between authors and their publishers – and he does...

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English world rights (Chicago UP), Spanish world rights (Taurus), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai Reader), Russia (Libra; non-exclusive), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Guanabara), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Korea (UUPress), Turkey (Norgunk)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Serbia (Ultimatum.rs)

Year of Publication: 1985

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1985

Old Masters

Old Masters is Thomas Bernhard's devilishly funny story about the friendship between two old men.

For over thirty years Reger, a music critic, has sat on the same bench in...

Rights sold to:

USA (Chicago UP), UK (Penguin), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (Cómplices), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Medium), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Sistema Solar), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (De Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Basilisk), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Teos), Korea (Hyon Am Sa), Japan (Ronsisha), Vietnam (Hop), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Slovakia (Kalligram) Hungary (Palatinus), Bulgaria (Critique & Humanism), Rumania (Paralela 45), Estonia (Varrak), Lithuania (Pasvires Pasaulis), Serbia (LOM), Slovenia (Beletrina), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Macedonia (Blesok), Albania (Aleph), Ukraine (Folio), Georgia (Sulakauri), Hindi (Radhakrishna), Israel (Babel)

Year of Publication: 1984

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1984

Woodcutters

Fiercely observed, often hilarious, and »reminiscent of Ibsen and Strindberg« (The New York Times Book Review), this exquisitely controversial novel was initially banned in its author’s...

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USA (Knopf), UK (Faber & Faber), English audio book (USA & Canada; Tantor), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Catalan rights (El Gall), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Todavia), Portuguese rights (Sistema Solar), Arabic world rights (Madrak), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Ijzer), Denmark (Basilisk), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Teos), Iceland (Forlagid), Japan (Kawade), Vietnam (Tao Dan), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Estonia (EKSA), Serbia (LOM), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Georgia (Sulakauri), Israel (Babel)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Hungary (Ferenczy Könyvkiado), Slovenia (Cankarjeva), Macedonia (Blesok)

Year of Publication: 1983

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1983

The Loser

»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...

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USA (Knopf), UK (Faber & Faber), Spanish world rights (Alfaguara), Basque rights (Alberdania), Catalan rights (Raval), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), Arabic world rights (Al-Kamel), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Denmark (Basilisk), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Teos), Korea (Munhakdongne), Japan (Misuzu Shobo), Vietnam (Tao Dan), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Slovakia (Kalligram), Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu), Serbia (LOM), Slovenia (Hermagoras), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Macedonia (Blesok), Albanian rights / Kosovo (Pa), Georgia (Sulakauri), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Lithuania (Alma Littera), Croatia (Meandar), Israel (Babel)

Year of Publication: 1982

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1982

Wittgenstein’s Nephew

With this work on the history of a friendship, published in 1982, Bernhard offers an autobiography, describing his childhood and youth in five volumes as well as his life between the years 1967 and...

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USA (Knopf), UK (Faber & Faber), Spanish world rights (Anagrama), Portuguese rights (Sistema Solar), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Arabic world rights (Mamdouh Adwan), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Teos), Korea (Purun), Japan (Misuzu Shobo), Vietnam (Hop), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Turkey (Metis), Greece (Plithos Editions), Albania (Aleph), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Israel (Am Oved)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Catalan rights (Empuries), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Rocco), Netherlands (De Prom), Denmark (Gyldendal), Hungary (Magvetö), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Croatia (Meandar), Slovenia (Hermagoras)

Year of Publication: 1982

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1982

Concrete

»Instead of the book he is meant to write, Rudolph, a Viennese musicologist, produces this dark and grotesquely funny account of small woes writ large, of profound horrors detailed and...

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USA (Knopf), UK (Faber & Faber), Spanish world rights Trade (Alfaguara), Spanish world rights Paperback (Alianza), Catalan rights (El Gall), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Russia (Ad marginem), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Edicoes 70), France (Gallimard), Italy (Studio Editoriale), Netherlands (Vleugels), Denmark (Sisyfos), Sweden (Tranan), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Hestia), Albania (Aleph), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Finland (Lurra), Iceland (Bjartur), Poland (Atut), Czech Republic (Prostor), Hungary (Ferenczy), Serbia (Alexandria Press), Israel (Hakibbutz)

Year of Publication: 1980

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1980

The Cheap-Eaters

For years, the four cheap-eaters have been eating at a certain Viennese public kitchen, from Monday to Friday, always the cheapest meals. They become the focus of Koller’s scientific attention...

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USA & Canada (Spurl Editions), UK (Quartet), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Vleugels), Sweden (Tranan), Poland (Czytelnik), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Catedra), Norway (Bokvennen), Czech Republic (Prostor), Greece (Inseln)

Year of Publication: 1978

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1978

Yes

»Yes«, answers the Persian woman, the protagonist of Thomas Bernhard’s novel published in 1978, to the narrator’s question of whether is going to kill herself one day – and laughs.

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USA (Chicago UP), Spanish world rights (Anagrama), Catalan rights (El Gall), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), France (Gallimard), Italy (Ugo Guanda), Netherlands (Vleugels), Sweden (Tranan), Finland (Lurra), Poland (Czytelnik), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Israel (Ruth Books)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Norway (Bokvennen), Czech Republic (Prostor), Romania (Paralela 45)

Year of Publication: 1975

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1975

Correction

»A body,« according to Correction, first published in German in 1975, »needs at least three points of support, not in a straight line, to fix its position, so Roithamer had written.« The...

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English world rights (Knopf), Spanish world rights (Alianza), France (Gallimard), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Vleugels), Sweden (Tranan), Finland (Teos), Japan (Kawade), Poland (Czytelnik), Czech Republic (Prostor), Serbia (LOM), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Exandas), Israel (Babel)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Portuguese rights (Fim de Seculo), Hungary (Ferenczy Könyvkiado)

Year of Publication: 1971

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1971

Walking

»A powerful, compact novella, Walking provides a perfect introduction to the absurd, dark, and uncommonly comic world of Bernhard, showing a preoccupation with themes —...

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English world rights (University Chicago Press), Spanish world rights (Contraseña), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Editora Brasileira), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Vleugels), Sweden (Tranan), Finland (Teos), Japan (Kawade), Poland (Od Do), Czech Republic (Prostor), Serbia (LOM), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Kritiki)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Denmark (Basilisk), Norway (Spartacus), Hungary (Europa)

Year of Publication: 1970

Thomas BernhardYear of Publication: 1970

The Lime Works

For five years, Konrad has imprisoned himself and his crippled wife in an abandoned lime works where he’s conducted odd auditory experiments and prepared to write his masterwork, The Sense of...

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English world rights (Knopf), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Portuguese rights (Sistema Solar), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Sweden (Tranan), Finland (Teos), Poland (Officyna), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers' Union Publishers), Serbia (LOM), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Japan (Hayakawa), Czech Republic (Prostor), Hungary (Cartafilus)