Fiction: A tribute to Thomas Bernhard

Austrian novelist, playwright and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) is not aswidely read in the U.S. as he is in Europe. But with his unique style, inwhich monologues reach a comic fever pitch through relentless exaggeration, repetition and contradiction, his influence among innovative writers is outsized.

A group of New York authors who have been influenced by their encounters with his work will read and discuss selections from Bernard's works.

Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of poetry, most recently Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films. His next book, Hotel Theory, will be published in spring 2007. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center, and currently also a Visiting Professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.

Rhonda Lieberman, the only woman on this panel, is a New York-based writer,a Contributing Editor of Artforum, a Visiting Critic at the Yale School of Art, and a longtime admirer of Bernhard's super-crabby oeuvre.

Ben Marcus is the author of The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women. He has published fiction and essays in Harper's, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeney's, and Conjunctions.

Geoffrey O'Brien is the author of Sonata for Jukebox, The Browser's Ecstasy,and other books.

Dale Peck is a novelist and critic. His new novel, The Garden of Lost and Found, will be published this fall. His favorite Bernhard novels are Old Masters, Concrete, and Woodcutters, although not always in that order.

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Suzanne Dottino

Fiction Curator

Suzanne@KGBBAR.COM