1
of
1
Save Yourself If You Can – Six Plays
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Hardback
$5699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
Save Yourself If You Can – Six Plays
$5699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This collection will appeal to enthusiasts of modern theatre and Austrian literature, as well as readers interested in dramatic works that combine philosophical depth with dark humour.
Latest News
Why you need to start a family boardgame night
Board games aren't just for adults, they're perfect to do as a family. Here's why...
From Page to Panel: The Rise of Graphic Novel Adaptations
Discover why graphic novel adaptations are booming, from ‘Dune’ and ‘Sapiens’ to ‘Call Me by...
Why You Should Read Folk Horror!
If you're looking for a new read and haven't yet tried Folk Horror as a...
Movie Review on The End of Oak Street
Lizzy and Roopa are sharing their reviews of The End of Oak Street, a movie...
We Expanded Our Board Game Range…400+ New Games in Stock Now!
Board game week has arrived at Book Hero! 🎲 We’ve expanded our range, with 400...
See more
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
A collection of six Bernhard plays, all in English for the first time.
Save Yourself If You Can is a collection of six plays that span the entirety of Thomas Bernhard’s career as a dramatist. The plays collected in this long-awaited addition to Bernhard’s oeuvre in English—The Ignoramus and the Madman, The Celebrities, Immanuel Kant, The Goal Attained, Simply Complicated, and Elizabeth II—traverse somber lyricism and misanthropy to biting satire and glorious slapstick.
They explore themes that will be familiar to longtime readers of Bernhard, but here they are presented in a subtly different register, attuned to the needs of the stage.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781803092584
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 05 November 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 6.0mm
Height: 9.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 480
Collections
About the Author
Thomas Bernhard (1931–1989) grew up in Salzburg and Vienna, where he studied music. In 1957 he began a second career as a playwright, poet, and novelist. He went on to win many of the most prestigious literary prizes in Europe, including the Austrian State Prize, the Bremen and Brüchner prizes, and Le Prix Séguier. Douglas Robertson is a translator based in Baltimore, Maryland. He has translated many works from German into English, and he has studied Thomas Bernhard’s work for over ten years.
Also by Douglas Robertson
View all-
The Rest Is Slander – Five Stories
A collection of previously untranslated stories from a master of twentieth-century Austrian literature, Thomas Bernhard. “The cold increases with the clarity,” said Thomas Bernhard while accepting a major literary prize in 1965. That clarity was the postwar realisation that the West’s last remaining cultural reference points were being swept away by the ever-greater commodification of humankind. Collecting five stylistically transitional...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Also by Thomas Bernhard
View all-
Prose
“His manner of speaking, like that of all the subordinated, excluded, was awkward, like a body full of wounds, into which at any time anyone can strew salt, yet so insistent, that it is painful to listen to him,” from The Carpenter. The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931–89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our...Paperback$3599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Rest Is Slander
A collection of previously untranslated stories from a master of twentieth-century Austrian literature, Thomas Bernhard. The cold increases with the clarity," said Thomas Bernhard while accepting a major literary prize in 1965. That clarity was the postwar realisation that the West's last remaining cultural reference points were being swept away by the ever-greater commodification of humankind. Collecting five stylistically transitional...Paperback$3599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Rest Is Slander – Five Stories
A collection of previously untranslated stories from a master of twentieth-century Austrian literature, Thomas Bernhard. “The cold increases with the clarity,” said Thomas Bernhard while accepting a major literary prize in 1965. That clarity was the postwar realisation that the West’s last remaining cultural reference points were being swept away by the ever-greater commodification of humankind. Collecting five stylistically transitional...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Walking
Thomas Bernhard is “one of the masters of contemporary European fiction” (George Steiner); “one of the century’s most gifted writers” (Newsday); “a virtuoso of rancour and rage” (Bookforum). And although he is favourably compared with Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, and Robert Musil, it is only in recent years that he has gained a devoted cult following in America. A powerful,...Paperback$3399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Woodcutters
Fiercely observed, often hilarious, and “reminiscent of Ibsen and Strindberg” (The New York Times Book Review), this exquisitely controversial novel was initially banned in its author’s homeland. A searing portrayal of Vienna’s bourgeoisie, Woodcutters begins with the arrival of an unnamed writer at an ‘artistic dinner’ hosted by a composer and his society wife—a couple he once admired and has...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Concrete
'Probably nothing exists that would prepare one for Bernhard's machined vehemence, though once you've read one, you perhaps start to crave the bitter taste and the savage not-quite-humour... Genius.' - Michael Hofmann Instead of the book he is meant to write, Rudolph, a Viennese musicologist, produces this dark and grotesquely funny account of small woes writ large, of profound horrors...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Of Seven Fir Trees and the Snow
These newly translated stories chart the making of a literary provocateur, one experiment and ethical dilemma at a time. Before Thomas Bernhard became one of the most provocative voices in modern literature, he was a young writer testing the limits of form and subject. Of Seven Fir Trees and the Snow offers an unprecedented look at his evolution, from his...Hardback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Correction
Thomas Bernhard is one of the masters of contemporary European fiction. After Kafka's and Canetti's, his sensibility is one of the most acute, the most capable of exemplary images and gestures, in modern literature." — George Steiner, Times Literary Supplement Roithamer, a character based on Wittgenstein, has committed suicide having been driven to madness by his own frightening powers of...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Voice Imitator
The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our times. At once pessimistic and exhilarating, Bernhard's work depicts the corruption of the modern world, the dynamics of totalitarianism, and the interplay of reality and appearance. In this stunning translation of The Voice Imitator, Bernhard gives us one of his most darkly...Paperback$2899Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Collected Poems
Bernhard’s Collected Poems is a key to understanding Bernhard’s irascible black comedy found in virtually all of his writings—even down to his last will and testament. Beloved Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard (1931–89) began his career in the early 1950s as a poet. Over the next decade, Bernhard wrote thousands of poems and published four volumes of intensely wrought and increasingly...Paperback$3499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Wittgenstein's Nephew
'Furious, obsessive, scathing, absolutely hilarious and oddly beautiful.' - Claire Messud It is 1967. Two men lie bedridden in separate wings of a Viennese hospital. The narrator, Thomas Bernhard, is stricken with a lung ailment; his friend Paul, nephew of Ludwig Wittgenstein, is suffering from one of his periodic bouts of madness. As their friendship quickens, these two eccentric men...PaperbackSold Out -
Goethe Dies
This collection of four stories is, as long-time fans of Thomas Bernhard would expect, bleakly comic and inspiringly rancorous. The subjects of the stories vary: in one, Goethe summons Wittgenstein to discuss the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; 'Montaigne: A Story in Twenty-Two Instalments' tells of a young man sealing himself in a tower to read; 'Reunion', meanwhile, satirises that very impulse to...PaperbackSold Out
More from Arts & Culture
View all-
Dylan's PickBold Types
A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...Hardback$5999Elsewhere:$7000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseHome Again
Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Buy to Win
Did I Ever Tell You This?
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...Paperback$3799Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseDisney Moana: The Official Cookbook
Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...Hardback$4499Elsewhere:$5299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
This Angry Pen of Mine
This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...Hardback$7299Elsewhere:$8999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
They Bloom Because of You
Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Devotions
New York Times Bestseller, chosen as Oprah's 'Books That Help Me Through' for Oprah's Book Club Chosen by Poetry Book Society as their special commendation 'No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important,...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Buy to WinThe Odyssey
The The Odyssey by Homer is a timeless epic that chronicles the adventures of the legendary Greek hero, Odysseus, as he endeavours to return home to Ithaca following the conclusion of the Trojan War. This monumental journey spans ten arduous years, during which Odysseus encounters a myriad of natural and supernatural challenges. From shipwrecks and ferocious battles to formidable monsters...Hardback$3600Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Buy to Win14% offLeaves of Grass
A collectible new Penguin Classics series offers beautiful, slim, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets. In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The volume received great praise from leading Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This encouragement led to what would become a lifelong project, as Whitman expanded and rewrote the volume until his death...Hardback$1900Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
I Still Believe in Miracles
I Still Believe in Miracles is a collection of poetry exploring themes of masculinity, love, grief, and connection. This is the trade debut from Instagram phenomenon Lucas Jones, perfect for fans of yung pueblo, Hussain Manawer, and Whitney Hanson. A collection of powerful contemporary poetry, I Still Believe in Miracles delves deeply into themes of masculinity, love, grief, and connection....Hardback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Beautiful Chaos
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Selected poems from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'These words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary.' - Giovanna Fletcher Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood, capturing everything...Paperback$2900Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseRoadscapes
For four decades, photographer Derek Smith has explored the way New Zealanders travel, work, and express themselves through the vehicles they drive. Roadscapes is his compelling photographic journey through the heartland of New Zealand, capturing our unique car cultures and the social landscapes they inhabit across Aotearoa.Hardback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
