Facts Outside the Body – On the Novels of Thomas Bernhard Cover Image

Testen kívüli tények – Thomas Bernhard regényeiről
Facts Outside the Body – On the Novels of Thomas Bernhard

Author(s): Barcza Zsigmond
Subject(s): Aesthetics, Austrian Literature, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Pécsi Tudományegyetem
Keywords: Thomas Bernhard; novel of consciousness; paranoia; narrative mode;

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the poetics of Thomas Bernhard's novels through the concept of paranoia. It argues that the recurring motifs and stylistic features of his oeuvre—monologic discourse, repetition, exaggeration, and mediated narration—not only serve as vehicles for a radical critique of the world but also represent the workings of a paranoid consciousness. The paper demonstrates how the narrative position is transformed in Bernhard's novels, how the perspective of consciousness becomes increasingly closed, and how the boundary between legitimate social criticism and paranoid projection gradually dissolves.

  • Issue Year: 4/2026
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 6-14
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Hungarian
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