Thomas Bernhard (1931-1989)Thomas Bernhard nasceu no dia 9 de Fevereiro de 1931, em Heerlen, na Holanda, cidade onde a sua mãe trabalhava. A infância foi passada com os avós maternos, em Viena (o avô era o escritor Johannes Freumblicher).Em 1935 muda-se com os avós para Seekirchen, perto de Salzburgo. Foi educado em dois internatos, um nacional-socialista e o outro católico, que o marcaram profundamente. As mortes do avô em 1949 e da mãe no ano seguinte abalaram-no muito.Depois do internamento, devido a uma tuberculose que deixou sequelas, Bernhard empregou-se num jornal de Salzburgo, ao mesmo tempo que começou a escrever contos e poemas. Em 1957 foi publicado o seu primeiro livro de poesia, Na Terra e no Inferno, ao qual se seguiram outras colectâneas de poemas. O autor aventurou-se também pela prosa e pelo género dramático, sendo o seu primeiro romance, Frost, publicado em 1963 e a sua primeira peça, Uma Festa para Boris, estreada em 1970.Foi um escritor polémico, que não deixou de exprimir opiniões controversas nas suas muitas obras, sobretudo no respeitante à sua relação ambígua com a Áustria e os austríacos.Os problemas de saúde de Thomas Bernhard levaram-no a procurar repouso em países como Itália, Espanha e Portugal.Morreu com apenas 58 anos de idade, no dia 12 de Fevereiro de 1989, na sua casa de Gmunden, na Áustria.
Fonte: http://www.assirio.com/autor.php?id=1302&i=C
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Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard was born in Heerlen, near Maastrich, Holland, as the illegitimate son of Austrian parents. His father, Alois Zuckerstätter, who came from Henndorf, Austria, was a carpenter. He never wanted to take care of his son and refused to acknowledge his paternity. Alois committed suicide in 1940 in Berlin, but Bernhard himself has claimed that he died in 1943. Bernhard's mother, Herta Bernhard, was the daughter of the author Johannes Freumbichler. Herta married Emil Fabjan in 1936 and next year Bernhard joined them in Trausntein. Herta died of cancer of the uterus in 1950.
His earliest childhood Bernhard spent in the care of his maternal grandparents in Vienna and Seekirchen (Wallersee). His grandfather, Johannes Freumbichler, who devoted himself entirely to his writing, provided for Bernhard the model for his eccentrics in his books. He died in 1949; the year was a turning point in Bernhard's life.
In 1941 Bernhard was sent to an institution for diffucult children. After returning in 1942 to Traunstein he continued his school there. In 1943 he was confirned in a Catholic church.
In 1947 Bernhard dropped out of the Johanneum Gymnasium in Salzburg, and apprenticed himself to a grocer. In the dank cellar shop Bernhard contracted a serious lung ailment. At one point he was so ill that he was given last rites in the death ward of the local hospital. Bernhard spent two years in convalescence. At the tuberculosis sanatorium Gratenhof he started to write. His first published piece was 'At the Grave of a Poet'. After recovery, he studied music and theatre arts at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg. Bernhard received his diploma in directing in 1957. As a student he was not the star of his class. On stage he frequently forgot his lines.
Fonte: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bernhard.htm
