Alte Meister

Old Masters is Thomas Bernhard’s devilishly funny story about the friendship between two old men. Reger is an 82-year-old music critic who writes pieces for The Times. For over thirty years he sits on the same bench in front of a Tintoretto painting in a Viennese museum, thinking and railing against contemporary society. His friend Atzbacher has been summoned to meet him, and through his eyes we learn more about Reger – the tragic death of his wife, his thoughts of suicide and, eventually, the true purpose of their appointment. At once pessimistic and exuberant, Old Masters is a richly satirical portrait of culture, genius, nationhood, class, the value of art and the pretensions of humanity.