Auslöschung

Finished: On the first page, the narrator receives a telegram simply stating that his parents and his brother are dead. He must urgently go to the funeral to meet his (supposedly) vile sisters at their insanely wealthy family castle estate - Wolfsegg - a place that he despises more than anything. The only thing he seems to despise more than Wolfsegg is his family that lived in it for generations. In the typical Bernhard fashion, he unravels this hatred for his own roots over 500-ish pages in the most captivating way... I'm always amazed by the precision with which he describes specific people, their behaviours, their personalities... And manages to relate it to the bigger problem of mentality and culture and psychology... Bernhard perfection, as always. - Started: My mum kept asking me “Did you read Wittgenstein’s Nephew by Thomas Bernhard??” So I read it and her response was “Great!!! Did you read Extinction by Thomas Bernhard??” so now I’m reading Extinction by Thomas Bernhard.