A child of Thomas Bernhard

" Grandfathers are the teachers, the real philosophers of every human being" (Johannes Freumbichler, grandfather of Thomas Bernhard)

Markus Meyer | Reading
Ingrid Porzner | Theater pedagogical director

Reading in excerpts and discussion with young people aged 12 and over and Markus Meyer

Thomas Bernhard, a literary fixture and "beacon" of the Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden for many years, has published five autobiographical books in addition to his numerous great novels and stage works, which provide information on why and how he became the writer he was: Die Ursache - Eine Andeutung, Der Keller - Eine Entziehung, Der Atem - Eine Entscheidung, Die Kälte - Eine Isolation and Ein Kind.

In these, he reports on his childhood, his time at boarding school, his apprenticeship and his studies until his isolation as an adolescent, triggered by his illness, in a lung sanatorium.

"Ein Kind" deals with the earliest phase of the famous poet's life and tells of his childhood, marked by the shame of growing up as an illegitimate child in the countryside, the war and the consequences of National Socialism, poverty, the narrowness and severity of village life, but also of his great love for his grandfather and his irrepressible will to resist and break out of this world. It begins with the memory of the little boy's attempt to escape on his guardian's bicycle, the triumphant beginning and how the journey ends in a debacle due to a major fall.

The matinee is intended to introduce young people to the work of this great writer, who lived in Ohlsdorf for decades and often spent time in Gmunden's Café Rathaus to study the newspapers. The plan is to read excerpts from "A Child" and make connections to the reality of today's young readers.

Theater pedagogical director: Ingrid Porzner