The Lime Works

The Lime Works is a novel by Thomas Bernhard from the year 1970. Throughout the novel is about the protagonist Konrad, feeding together with his wife in a secluded old lime works to undisturbed to write down a study of the hearing there. The novel was published in 1970 by Suhrkamp Verlag. The Hörverlag published in 2002 a staged reading, directed by Ulrich Gerhardt, spoken by Ulrich Matthes.

Content

This study has Konrad supposedly been around for decades in the head; but he is still waiting for the all appropriate moment to bring them down on paper. His wife, who called Konrad, is confined to a wheelchair and on the help and care of her husband. However, this abused for his experiments by the Urban Chi Chen method, which should serve his study.

These experiments are performed in a way that Konrad his wife for hours, in alternating volume and from various distances, says the same words in his ear. The woman who can not escape because of their paralysis of the ordeal, must then make statements about how she has which perceived sound. In this agonizing procedure that occur every day in the lime works, the woman works of Conrad discretion after, differently well with. In order to achieve in his experiments but for best results, Konrad has devised a kind of conditioning system that he wants to force his wife to better collaboration: Does she work well with, so she gets then from her favorite novel, the " Novalis " Novalis read. It behaves not as her husband wishes, he reads her for hours in front of his favorite book, the Kropotkin.

In this sadistic -looking manner Konrad works every day in the study, which he never really comes to start the transcript. According to his statements, he always comes something in between. Mostly it just knocks in the moments that seem to him to be appropriate, at the door of the quarry and an unwelcome visitor makes Conrad's entire concept naught. The tense situation between Conrad and his wife escalates over the course of the novel on and on. He begins to neglect them, bathing it only rarely and it attracts no more clean clothes. As Konrad addition to his work in the study did not exercise professional activities, he is forced to gradually secretly to sell behind his wife's back, a complete inventory of the quarry. One night he dreams of the reversal of the power relations in the couple's relationship: In his dream, his wife can move suddenly, comes to meet him in his room and makes him the charge of having secretly authored the study. After this dream Konrad shoots his wife the night of the 24th to the 25th of December. This story of Conrad and his wife is mediated by a nameless narrator, with different people who live in Conrad's environment talks.

The figure of the narrator

The narrator is a life insurance agent, who is not mentioned by name, and learns nothing about the personality of the reader. He talks to throughout the novel with Fro and Wieser in a guest house on the history of Conrad and are, following these discussions, a report about what happened and was said from. He has the role of a reporter. Other informants for this report are: the building officer, the baker and Höller, whose statements are mediated by Wieser and Fro brought to him. The report of the narrator extends over several days. The reader learns that the narrator Konrad While recognizing that some times; but it is not said in what proportion he stood to him. Also on the motives of the narrator to write the report, the reader is left in the dark.

Narrative style

Almost everything the narrator reflects on the discussions with Fro and Wieser is held in the subjunctive I. The result is a complex quote chain because the statements allegedly made to have Konrad, are first quoted by Fro or Wieser and these are in turn cited by the narrator. These quotes are linked by inquit formulas that stand between the individual subsets. The citation chain causes the narrative perspective is repeatedly broken. Furthermore " The Lime Works ," as even the previous two novels, " Frost" and " disturbance ", very rich in repetition of words and even whole sentences.

Genesis

The lime works is Thomas Bernhard's third extensive prose text. He appeared in the same year in which Thomas Bernhard was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize. The award increased the interest in addition to the book. Thomas Bernhard visited Germany and Switzerland, where numerous lectures were held. In between, it looked for a while like this, as would turn a portion of these readings, because the author wanted to change his contract with Suhrkamp and threatened to cancel all future events.

The lime works is the novel with which Thomas Bernhard was able to achieve a first large width effect while his previous prose works were more familiar with a slightly smaller circle of readers of literary connoisseurs. In November 1970, the first edition was sold out of 3,000 copies. Thus was the lime works for both Thomas Bernhard and for Suhrkamp a commercial success. On 1 August 1973, a paperback edition of the novel was published in a first edition of 12,000 copies.

In Thomas Bernhard Archive in Gmunden exists under the signature W 3/ 1, an eighteen Journal compilation with comprehensive notes, who prepared the author to the lime plant. This shows that Bernhard had acquired medical knowledge for his novel. Specialized terminology of otology such as otalgia, otitis otosclerosis or appear in it.

Reception

Peter Härtling wrote in 1970 in the mirror: " Thomas Bernhard's new novel, The Lime Works ' is even more decisive than the previous ones, but the joke is, of course ,' the extreme introversion to the method, the plot to travesty [ ... ]. "

Ernst- Wilhelm dealer called him in 2004 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, his favorite book: " Is possible clarity without refrigeration? , The Lime Works ' by Thomas Bernhard does not answer the question. But the question can not be answered without the lime works. "

In literaturkritik.de it was in 2006 when Bernard's 75th birthday and the re-release in Volume 3 of the scale to 22 volumes complete works by Suhrkamp: 'Virtuoso developed Bernhard here the type of highly intelligent mentally ill ', which fails by its own claims and the pursuit of perfection ultimately ends in disaster. His language unbelievable design is only superficially monotonous, time and again, the text winds in only about third parties notifying thoughts of Conrad. "

Most reviewers emphasize the thematic continuity in Thomas Bernhard's longer prose works. Heinrich Vormweg commented in Mercury: " The theme that he circles again and again in all his works, is the terrible, senseless, Overwhelming human life, the zone of its eclipse, crippling, the uncorrectable Disturbed One. "

Expenditure

• The lime works. Bibliothek Suhrkamp band 1320. Frankfurt 1999 ISBN 3-518-22320-8

• Ulrich Gerhardt (Ed. ): The lime works. The Hörverlag. Munich 2002 ISBN 3-89584-967-7

Secondary literature

• Mechthild memory: study of the mythical space and mythical thinking in EA Poe's " The Fall of the House of Usher", F. Kafka " Construction " and T. Bernhard " The lime works ". Munich, 2013, ISBN 978-3-640-87072-1.