I've been reading "Extinction" (Auslöschung) by Bernhard, in which the main character (Franz-Josef Murau) expounds, highly critically, on Goethe, Thomas Mann, Musil, etc. All of them are judged, more or less, to be mediocre, middle-brow writers. In the case of Goethe, and perhaps the others, I believe he compares him unfavourably to Shakespeare. I was wondering whether Bernhard himself had such a critical opinion of these authors. I don't really know that much about Goethe, except that he is world-famous, that is, I haven't read him. But surely Mann and Musil are among the greats.
One would assume that Bernhard is expressing his opinion through the character, but I had some doubts, particularly since Murau professes that his friend Maria's poetry is better than any other. It seemed, perhaps, that one might need to understand that all of this was simply Murau's prejudiced point of view.
