Viktor Halbnarr: Ein Wintermärchen nicht nur für Kinder

One night in the middle of winter, as deep snow covers the mountains and forests, a doctor is crossing the ridge in Austria from Traich to Föding to see a patient. He stumbles over a body in the darkness and fears it is a corpse. But it’s not a corpse at all. In fact, it’s wooden-legged Victor Halfwit, collapsed, but still very much alive. So begins this dark and comic tale by celebrated Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard.

Victor Halfwit may have originally been conceived as an absurd fable for children, but Bernhard’s masterly grasp of the intersection of tragedy and comedy renders this a story for all ages.