Thomas Bernhard

Thomas Bernhard was born in 1931 in the Netherlands, the illegitimate son of an Austrian mother and a father he never knew. He spent his childhood with his mother and maternal grandparents in Vienna and was influenced by his grandfather, who was a writer. His education took place in two boarding schools, one National Socialist and the other Catholic, and in music, with singing and violin lessons. Later he studied acting and directing actors. Between 1952 and 1955, Bernhard collaborated with several newspapers, writing literary criticism, and began publishing some poems and short stories. In 1957 he published his best-known book of poetry, On Earth and in Hell, and in 1963, Frost, one of his most important novels. His work spans poetry, fiction, theater, and essays. A major author of the second half of the 20th century, and certainly one of the most controversial, he died in 1989 at his home in Gmunden, Austria.