Old Masters

In this exuberantly satirical novel, the tutor Atzbacher has been

summoned by his friend Reger to meet him in a Viennese museum. While

Reger gazes at a Tintoretto portrait, Atzbacher—who fears Reger's

plans to kill himself—gives us a portrait of the musicologist: his

wisdom, his devotion to his wife, and his love-hate relationship with

art. With characteristically acerbic wit, Bernhard exposes the

pretensions and aspirations of humanity in a novel at once pessimistic

and strangely exhilarating.

"Bernhard's . . . most enjoyable novel."—Robert Craft, *New York *

*Review of Books*.

"Bernhard is one of the masters of contemporary European fiction."

—George Steiner