Description
Book SynopsisInstalled behind his desk with notebook, ashtray, whiskey, and “several typewriters of various calibers,” Werner Kofler embarks on a tour not through space but through literature, and through his abortive attempts at producing a work he can call his own. “Art must destroy reality,” he trumpets, yet, in the spirit of his “beloved Beckett,” each failed attempt at the writing desk only drives the effort endlessly, angrily on. The first English translation of a central figure in Austrian fiction, At the Writing Desk is a battle cry against every cultural and literary status quo.
Trade ReviewA welcome introduction to a writer little known to American readers.
* Kirkus Reviews *
At the Writing Desk is a Bernhardian reckoning and accounting -- with nation, history, the corruption of the German and Austrian political and literary establishments, among other things. Among the attacks are many personal ones (including a tirade against Kofler's early publisher K
* The Complete Review *
