since this same perfection would mean stagnancy and therefore death. Anti-Catholic rhetoric is not uncommon. "Es ist alles lächerlich, wenn man an den Tod denkt" (It's all ridiculous, when one thinks of death) was his comment when he received a minor Austrian national award in 1968, which resulted in one of the many public scandals he caused over the years and which became part of his fame. His novel Holzfällen (1984), for instance, could not be published for years because of a defamation claim by a former friend. Many of his plays—above all Heldenplatz (1988)—were met with criticism from many Austrians, who claimed they sullied Austria's reputation. One of the more controversial lines referred to Austria as "a brutal and stupid nation ... a mindless, cultureless sewer which spreads its penetrating stench all over Europe." Heldenplatz, as well as the other plays Bernhard wrote in these years, were staged at Vienna's famous Burgtheater by the controversial director . Even in death Bernhard caused disturbance by his posthumous literary emigration, as he supposedly called it, by which his will disallowed all publication and stagings of his work within Austria. The International Thomas Bernhard Foundation, established by his executor and half-brother Dr. Peter Fabjan, has since made exceptions, although the German firm of Suhrkamp remains his principal publisher. The correspondence between Bernhard and his publisher Siegfried Unseld from 1961 to 1989 – about 500 letters – was published in December 2009 at Suhrkamp Verlag, Germany. Bibliography Novels Frost (1963). Translated by Michael Hofmann (2006). Verstörung (1967). Gargoyles, translated by Richard and Clara Winston (1970). Das Kalkwerk (1970). The Lime Works, translated by Sophie Wilkins (1973). Korrektur (1975). Correction, translated by Sophie Wilkins (1979). Ja (1978). Yes, translated by Ewald Osers (1991). Die Billigesser (1980). The Cheap-Eaters, translated by Ewald Osers (1990) and Douglas Robertson (2021). Beton (1982), Concrete, translated by David McLintock (1984). Wittgensteins Neffe. Eine Freundschaft (1982). Wittgenstein's Nephew, translated by Ewald Osers (1986) and David McLintock (1989). Der Untergeher (1983). The Loser, translated by Jack Dawson (1991). Holzfällen. Eine Erregung (1984). Translated by David McLintock as Woodcutters (1987) and Ewald Osers as Cutting Timber: An Irritation (1988). Alte Meister. Komödie (1985). Old Masters: A Comedy, translated by Ewald Osers (1989). Auslöschung. Ein Zerfall (1986). Extinction, translated by David McLintock (1995). In der Höhe. Rettungsversuch, Unsinn (written 1959, published 1989). On the Mountain, translated by Russell Stockman (1991). Novellas and short