hello
list Well
... first ... as long as Jost says that there is no German word "Untergeher,"
then I like my translation better. I am copyrighting it.
the
noun does not exist. but there is a verb called "untergehen" which simply
means "to drown" or "going under". therefore the title of the book can
roughly be translatet as The Drowning Man"
The
plot sounds as if it was nicely lifted from "Amadeus." The instant Solieri
hears Mozart perform, he realizes for the first time in his life that he
(Solieri) is mediocre and condemned to be mediocre forever. (It gets worse
when Constanz shows him some of Mozart's scores and tells Solieri he just
writes them out once, he never revises.) Solieri also is enraged to realize
that God has chosen this vulgar, hedonistic creature to make music through.
If I am correct then Bernhard
had the idea around the time of GG's untimely death so there is only a
small relation to the plot of amadeus Am
I going to like this novel? This doesn't sound like the Feel-Good Hit of
the Season to me.
Nah, definetly not. It is
a very difficult read, It is very hard to follow the plot (if one can call
it a plot anyway), the text has almost no paragraphs and the language/attitude
ist the sort of post-war post-1968 intellectual blah-blah not uncommon
to german intellectuals of the time.
I also have to mention that
there are a few paralells between GG and Bernhard. Both of them were quite
eccentric (Bernard's landlord recalls that at one time in 1972 he made
an attempt to stage his funeral, amongst other things) and with age bernhard,
like gould, tetreated from society.
give it a read anyway
rgds
pat