37: Thomas Bernhard mit Douglas Robertson

Unsound Methods

In episode 37 we're joined by Douglas Robertson to celebrate the publication of his brand new translation of Thomas Bernhard's Die Billigesser (the Cheap Eaters) and to discuss our favourite Austrian monologuing misanthrope.
Douglas is a writer and translator based in Keystone, Florida. He studied British and American Literature at the New College of Florida and Johns Hopkins University. He has translated works from German into English by authors including E. T. A. Hoffmann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Christian Morgenstern, Novalis, and Ludwig Tieck, and he has studied Thomas Bernhard’s work for over ten years.
Thomas Bernhard was one of the most important and unique writers of the twentieth century. Born in 1931, Bernhard published numerous novels and autobiographical writings, as well as short stories, plays, and poetry, including The Loser and Extinction. After years of chronic lung illness, Bernhard died in Austria in 1989.

Douglas would like to give a shout out to his friend flowerville, a native German speaker who proofread the entire rough draft of the translation and was particularly helpful in offering pointers on register; particularly the level of formality or informality of specific expressions in the original German.
The Cheap Eaters by Thomas Bernhard, translated by Douglas Robertson, is published by Spurl Editions, and is available here: https://spurleditions.com/cheap-eaters
Douglas has a blog, The Philosophical Worldview Artist (http://shirtysleeves.blogspot.com).
And he's also on Twitter: @shirtysleeves

Find us on Twitter: @UnsoundMethods - @JaimieBatchan - @LochlanBloom
Jaimie's Instagram is: @jaimie_batchan
We have a store page on Bookshop, where you can find our books, as well as those of previous guests: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/unsoundmethods
Thanks for listening, please like, subscribe and rate Unsound Methods wherever you get your podcasts. Our website is: https://unsoundmethods.co.uk/
Image of Thomas Bernhard: By Monozigote - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85846453