A Translation of Einfach kompliziert by Thomas Bernhard Simply Complicated For Minetti He was in the right: and so, indeed it is. Richard III A year [in the] Ludwig Pavilion that humbled you that almost could have cost you your head Dramatis personae HE, an old actor KATHARINA, a nine-year-old A run-down room A chair at stage left, a chair by the wall at stage right A window at stage right, a door at stage left A table and chair A chest A chamber-pot A bucket An icebox A tape-recorder on the floor Scene One Early in the day HE in a shabby black suit and oversize felt slippers with buckles, and with a pair of spectacles hanging from his neck, is kneeling on the floor and nailing down a plinth If anybody sees me here in this pose Contemplates the nail he has most recently hammered down Complicity A contempt for craftsmen Looks around We have all allowed our talents to waste away signalized for askewness doctored in mathematics Guest of honor on the Isle of Man Devoured along with the viceroy by Indians contemplates the nail he has most recently hammered down One more tap

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one tap more hits the nail Mice Who would have imagined How we have dwindled here there used to be no mice in the Hanssachsstrasse The mice are holdovers Everyone died off without exception first my sisters then my brother First a phobia about hats then hats made to order No medical problem I said they did not believe me I had always been punctual A dependability fanatic Kept every appointment Brought punctuality to a science Never unpunctual Either we go to seed or we are punctual A chronology of death first Grandfather then Grandmother then Mother then Father every year a sister then my brother looks around Made of dust I have outrun stupidity Curricular Extracurricular horror But if we had not had our seizures lifts the hammer high into the air and looks around My heart made into a den of thieves Intellectual experience No temperament for ministration lets his hand and the hammer fall, exhausted We concoct ourselves our own unhappiness Like an unappetizing soup and spoon it up voraciously glances at the door

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A matter of taste he said I have figured out his game We love our brother to the end of our life even if at every moment we hate him must hate him must glances at the window The word capitulation never spoken never given up Up in my head contemplates the nail he has most recently hammered down In principle I have always been a gourmet naturally not in the primitive sense A spiritual gourmet Everyone wasted away Not I Everyone has died off Not I I am a genius I have always said to myself in the face of all assertions to the contrary We despair quite early on Capitalized despair made out of despair into a genius When falsehood dominates everything genius develops unobtrusively I am no idiot I said I am intractable but no idiot tries to stand up, but fails Studied in France at the Sorbonne at Gttingen at Cambridge everything of no avail A despiser of books A degenerator of knowledge A demolisher of character tries to stand up, but remains kneeling and glances at the door The summers were propitious when I let myself go they were bored to death

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while I developed philosophically I wrote maxims while they digested their pork philosophical noises throughout looks around Always played the role of the maker of unhappiness tried to tell the truth and walked with falsehood along the street A conspiracy first against my parents then against the others a court jester's existence strikes two more hammer blows, completely exhausted, on the nail he has most recently hammered down, and then glances at the window. They all died off all not I They died I walked with a vigorous gait I bought myself a book they hated me But reading is supersensual Waste of time Two whole years spent with only Shakespeare and with Schopenhauer We tolerate nothing else we imprison ourselves with Shakespeare and with Schopenhauer we positively cannot stand music Tries to stand up, but remains kneeling Did not abandon pleasure, naturally but elasticity sang "The Crow" At the age of eighteen Made a show of myself with Schubert Italian arias with great sympathy They naturally did not think That I would go ahead with everything They shook their heads I walked out And had left them behind me A tenacity fanatic Stands up and stretches I have always loathed Commonplaceness Always loathed beer-drinkers Clear-water fanaticism

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Goes to the window and looks out and turns around and glances at the door Given up my desires But I have not given up myself We owe nothing to anyone Everyone owes everything to us But we owe nothing to anyone Too lazy even to cook their own hot soup too lazy even to cut their own bread too lazy even to open The World as Will and Idea We could do everything for ourselves we do not dream of doing it You go your way I said I will go my way you all go your way while I go my way the opposite way that is it Too lazy To cook their own chicken soup We want to go to bed and are too lazy to do so We have uncovered ourselves in the night and we are practically freezing to death and are too lazy to pull the covers over ourselves Hated my father Hated my mother Hated the merry-go-round Hated sauerkraut Hated squeaky doors Set traps and waylaid Grandmother and didn't eat beef Childhood shoved us off walks over to the nail he has most recently hammered down and contemplates it looks around caught by surprise in this laughable state by surprise by surprise Ordinarily on Sunday she wore her blue dress that I had bought her in Konstanz she worried

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she might grow out of the dress at the age of seventy-six she worried about this A woebegone character At the age of seventy-six she accused me of lying Everything invariably acquired at my expense Later on in the spring an incessant compulsion to talk hammers at the nail he has most recently hammered down after a pause Buy mouse-poison stands up and walks to the table and lays the hammer down and takes a notepad out of the chest and writes on it "Buy mouse-poison" Buy mouse-poison Looks around, looks at the writing-pad A hundred-twenty-three mice from the third of January to the twenty-fourth of December walks to the bed and bends down to the chamber-pot standing there and carries it out of the room while coughing, flushes the toilet, and immediately comes back in with the empty chamber-pot. Buy mouse-poison places the chamber-pot under the bed, walks to the window and looks out Practically nothing more to do with it It is no longer of any concern to us not of the slightest turns around and glances at the door She defamed me she simply gave the knife a twist We have not been left unpunished by the world leans on the wall and glances at the door dull-witted thirst for knowledge Paper war horribly conclusive walks to the table, sits down, opens the drawer and takes out a newspaper and a large daguerreotype of Schopenhauer and sternly contemplates the daguerreotype Led astray yet again to lechery to spiritual lechery picks up the hammer and a nail and stands up and hammers the nail into the wall and hangs the daguerreotype of Schopenhauer takes three steps back and contemplates the daguerreotype of Schopenhauer It makes no difference whom we follow no difference takes another two steps back If we inherit from our grandfather nothing but Schopenhauer

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we can consider ourselves fortunate in every situation always hated the so-called primeval philosophy turns round and glances at the door and exclaims To paint what kind of a madman thought to paint this place one would really have to be mad to put up paint here clutches at his head Mad Mad Mad glances at the floor When we are not even in a position to have to do anything fearlessly such that the stroke needed to drive in a single nail gives us a stroke exclaims To paint to paint glances at the window and then at the daguerreotype of Schopenhauer Philosophical fornication Waspish fortune-telling World-adulteration World-swinification Because we have inherited our grandfather's daguerreotype we hang it on the wall always yet again we hang it on the wall until we are dependent on it goes to the table and sits down and looks at the floor A lifelong malheur A lifelong philosophical malheur If we still had a manager we could take him to task but we no longer have a manager Mr Manager, I say enfranchise me from Schopenhauer enfranchise me from Descartes also and from Voltaire, Mr Manager looks around If we give names to the mice we are doubtless insane

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peers into the corners of the room in succession Admiral Nelson Admiral Dnitz Field marshal Kesselring or quite simply Hans or Franz Josef or Minna stands up and goes to the plinth that he had nailed down earlier, and inspects it, then No more mouse-hole No more mouse looks around We can say That we in our life more or less every two days have caught a mouse stands up From now on we shall no longer catch them we shall poison them walks to the table and sits down and takes a book out of the drawer and reads Very often poor mother had an arduous time at breastfeeding that is a fact closes the book with a snap and places it in the chest and closes the chest and glances at the door All the night through I thought I would let the place be painted Indeed I have even thought about painting it myself Overweening pride Self overvaluation We are already completely exhausted when we hammer a single nail into the plinth glances at the daguerreotype of Schopenhauer We have a harder and harder time building momentum Herr Schopenhauer opens the drawer and lays the notepad inside it and shuts the drawer and opens it back up and takes out the notepad and writes "Buy mouse-poison" in it once again in large letters tears off the sheet with "Buy mouse-poison" written on it and stands up and sticks it on a nail in the wall, takes two steps back and reads Buy mouse-poison We must walk in the street If we do not wish to go to seed contemplates his feet We are not currying favor at all

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when we go outside we are not currying favor We say mouse-poison and mean mouse-poison one packet of mouse-poison I say and I let myself pick up a packet of mouse poison Out of impatience we must throw a spanner in the works a kangaroo-court trial mind you Glances at the door then goes to the mirror and gazes into it We do not ask what is tolerable we strive for an attractive exterior we recapitulate each day our mental incapacity naturally we shall not understand we let it be Enlightenment is nonsense draws quite close to the mirror, nearly touches the mirror with his chin No beauty I have strived all my life For a proper tongue-position How is Amsterdam correctly pronounced in contrast to Rotterdam Memel Etsch Belt that was it Gaiety moderated but not excessively Philosophical but not excessively The word cosmometropolitan spoken three thousand eight hundred times at the Hotel Krasnapolski I did not respond to what they were saying but I did not hold myself back either I have been to Moscow I said I have been to Helsinki I said I have been to New York I said I have been to Sa Paulo At large gatherings I invariably stopped all conversation in its tracks I do not understand the slightest thing about surrealism I said Bertrand Russell is a charlatan I said Don't even mention Beethoven around me I said

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Bankers are all vultures I said In my youth I played the double bass naturally I said not the piano sticks his tongue out and draws it back in Lourdes I said cured me after a certain fashion Ftima did even more so With Cardinal Wischinski I talked about Polish seeds Allude to Schopenhauer as little as possible I always thought to myself turns around to face the door Philosophical string-puller Walks to the table, picks up the hammer, kneels before the plinth that he has just nailed down, and hits the nail that he has just hammered down Inspects the plinth and says very quietly super-distinctly parochial that is it stands up and lays the hammer on the table and sits down If we no longer answer letters we no longer receive any in thirteen years I have not replied to a letter looks around Craziness to subscribe to the newspaper in order to study the help-wanted ads at the age of eighty-two picks up the newspaper and flips it open and reads Hotel in Black Forest seeks middle-aged butler able-bodied and with good manners looks up from the newspaper and glances at the door Scene Two Towards noon HE is sitting at the table, in shirtsleeves, with an old blanket wrapped around his shoulders Regimented work they said The element of the perverse in my thoughts

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they hated If I walked quickly It was wrong If I walked slowly it was wrong You a cripple and an actor your father you this good-for-nothing actor your mother she demanded altruism takes a deep breath In Badgastein the thunder of the waterfall drowned out her chatter Out of fear we drip the first prize out of fear after a pause I shall put it on I shall put on the crown stands up and walks to the chest and opens it glances at the door I last put it on in March On the twenty-seventh of March it was raining first there was rain then heavy snowfall bends down and pulls out of the chest a crown and walks with the crown to the door and back and looks out of the window and walks back to the door and puts the crown on. Possibly mistaken in this constitution no scruples whatsoever presses the crown down on his head Firmer presses the crown more firmly down on his head Firmer presses the crown even more firmly down on his head Firmer still presses the crown even more firmly down on his head First we get upset Then we calm down No it was not by chance that the idea occurred to me I said I was already an actor before I got the idea In my mother's belly

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I was already Richard the Third looks around No glass cage Running in the wrong direction means death presses the crown down on his head When my head begins to bleed the crown has been properly placed when my head begins to bleed presses the crown as firmly as possible down on his head and presses it even more firmly, while he positions himself in front of the mirror. After a pause Constantly spurned with too much pallor in my face Played opposite everyone Never thrust myself into the foreground We cannot say that we are content We undertake a journey and arrive completely spent We leave the house and come back destroyed Nor do we make telephone calls anymore we have canceled our telephone service canceled it Kept the newspaper subscription but canceled the telephone service Too much pallor in my face Always rejected Everyone has always time and again become entangled in contradictions The art of acting Terrorism We have believed nothing but accepted it as true and have spat it out spat it out spat it out spat it out spits on the floor looks into the mirror again All week long learned how to cough the way a king coughs coughs Learned how to cough We listened what we heard was useless

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convinced of everything primitive mathematics high art all useless while we prepared ourselves supper we thought what we have heard all day is useless heard nothing but nonsense all our life makes a grimace at the mirror Always time and again made a grimace an unseemly one already the born grimace-maker as a child turns round and glances at the window And then suddenly the entire grand Classical attitude Looks into the mirror again and sticks his tongue out We exist only If we are so to speak the center of the world walks to the table and sits down while pressing the crown firmly down on his head fell ill for a single scene bedridden for a year on account of this single scene Always put the crown on without advancing any farther Even though I did not know why everything was crumbling around me Thought too much about Shakespeare when I was acting Shakespeare thought too much about the crown when I was playing Richard III thought too much about the art of acting when I was acting We are not permitted to think about the art of acting when we are acting we are not permitted to think about Shakespeare when we are acting Shakespeare we wear the crown but we are not permitted to think we are king A wretched dog that thinks It is a wretched dog Cogitated much too much Recapitulated much too much

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Traveled around much too much Believed I had to get to know the continent What nonsense Fell ill for the whole year On account of this single scene And can never explain what the art of acting is people ask we answer but know nothing presses the crown firmly down on his head Under the crown I calm down I would have even acquired the costume if I had expressed the desire I wanted the crown They thought I would die at seventy but I am fully eighty-two they thought they were celebrating my sixtieth birthday as my last birthday but they even had to celebrate my eightieth I wanted to have the crown Not the costume I am myself alone do you understand I had expressed the desire and I have acquired the crown Posterior slyness I have always said of myself Shiftiness stands up and goes to the previously nailed-down plinth bends down and inspects the plinth Even of craftspeople we have had our fill Precisely even of the so-called simple people the complicated ones we always hated but now we also hate the simple ones we tolerate either the complicated or the simple When we walk along the street they all make us sick that is the truth presses the crown down on his head Truth fanatic

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But injustice is everywhere like falsehood inspects the plinth To paint What madness When I am hardly capable anymore Of making myself a cup of tea Twenty years I have thought I shall paint one more time looks around but I shall never paint again it satisfies me as it is looks at the ceiling It really is all the same Whether it is painted again Or not I no longer notice Whether it has been painted Or not Thought about it For twenty years After her death I shall paint I thought Twenty years Now That nobody comes anymore Two days before her death She was still saying I had become malicious I was by now not only weird But also malicious to boot glances at the door our son was to have been named Sebastian But Rodrigo I said is a fine name I begged her then there was a miscarriage So many sisters and only one brother and all of them degenerates irresolutely grown up suddenly deceased They left me behind with this familial shambles Tries to stand up but does not succeed

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The catastrophic thing of course was that I towered over all of them in spiritual hindsight I was ill I was thoroughly ill but I towered over all of them in spiritual hindsight we loved ourselves and hated ourselves tries to stand up but does not succeed A wholly contrarian central nervous system that was family-shattered throughout stands up A cardinal they would have liked that they hated the acting profession but I have always also hated it walks to the mirror and peers into it they left me alone In the Thuringian forest for three months they gave not a thought to me and I was not even eleven years old We do not forgive them we are incapable of doing that our parents are unforgivable The crime of being born is unforgivable There is a knock at the door To himself It is not without hesitation that we meet our fate presses the crown firmly down on his head, turns around, and takes two steps towards the door Relying on myself I have broken off all connections in a whisper Richard the Third inadequate perfectly inadequately Unbearable meter sloppily translated There is a knock at the door

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We wish to be left alone and they will not leave us alone We burn all our bridges behind us and we are badgered we wish to enjoy our peace and people knock on our door in a whisper To be unapproachable nobody's partner There is a knock at the door Grew old before their time they all died away overnight in a questioning tone, after a pause Is that you Katharina KATHARINA It's me Katharina HE Ah yes my child Walks to the window and looks out the window and turns back around One moment just one moment presses the crown firmly down on his head I am just reading in a book Schopenhauer Schopenhauer walks to the bed and sits down on it Schopenhauer my child Tries to take the crown off his head, but he does not take it off One moment he puts on the jacket I am just putting on my jacket I have read Schopenhauer and am putting on my jacket Why do you come now we said eleven o'clock it is now half-past one Ah yes one moment he stands up and walks to the door and opens it Katharina enters with a half-full jug of milk HE

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We think it is our evil genius, child and it is our good one Come in I am the old actor to whom you bring milk every Tuesday and Friday you bring the old actor milk the old actor who no longer associates with human beings come in my child Human beings are the cause it is always human beings Come in KATHARINA enters as far as the middle of the room HE still standing at the door Human beings are horrible my child and megalomaniacal The whole of humanity is megalomaniacal wherever we look we see only a megalomaniacal humanity we are in the midst of a catastrophic ordeal of stultification The crown yes the crown irritates you Richard the Third I played him in Duisburg and in Bochum It was not a success I loved the role but I had no success with it For my seventieth birthday The municipal government of Duisburg presented me with this crown which I wore when I played the Richard the Third This very crown We enjoy no success and yet we love the role In Duisburg my child In the theater at Duisburg I have played Richard the Third that naturally means nothing to you my child come give me the jug he takes the milk-jug from Katharina People who work in the theater only look so serious

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actually they are not in a questioning tone Are you afraid of me In Duisburg I played Richard the Third As well as Don Carlos the lot walks with the milk-jug to the icebox, opens the icebox, takes a saucer out of it and fills it with milk from the jug Every now and then I enjoy putting on the crown puts the jug in the icebox and closes the door of the icebox Crazy aren't they All actors are crazy all good actors are crazy the entire theater is crazy Theater people crazy people The theater world a crazy world Won't you sit down KATHARINA takes a seat at the table HE sits down on the chair at the window The actor has a crown on his head but he is no king the actor wears a coronation robe but he is no king the actor succeeds to the throne but he is no king presses the crown firmly down on his head The actor who has a crown on his head is a poor old man Has your mother given you permission to let me take you to the opera as I promised I would KATHARINA shakes her head HE You see I told you she would not let me

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take you to the opera To The Magic Flute That is the most wonderful experience for a child her first trip to the opera and especially to hear The Magic Flute Perhaps later Human beings are human agents of destruction they thoroughly ruin even their own child before he can even properly breathe presses the crown firmly down on his head For over ten years since my seventieth birthday I have put on this crown in the chest every other Tuesday of the month Do you like the crown KATHARINA nods HE We have dignity when we are wearing a crown But it is thoroughly nonsensical to put on a stage-crown when one is an old actor a ridiculous act a ridiculous act nothing but pure ridiculousness addressing Katharina directly Did you know that I have acted in Duisburg and in Osnabrck Loud-mouthed fools That means nothing to you The art of acting is a lethal art I fear nothing more Do you understand I can do what I want I fear nothing more laughs Fear is perverse my child where there is so much stupidity addressing Katharina directly Would you like some juice

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KATHARINA answers in the affirmative HE stands up and walks to the icebox and asks Black-cherry juice KATHARINA Yes HE opens the icebox and takes out a bottle of black-cherry juice and fills a glass with it and places it on the table Wait a moment And don't gulp it down all at once lest you catch a cold People are greedy and greedily gulp everything down at once he drags the chair away from the window and places it at the table and sits down opposite Katharina You will see everything in the world is very complicated It all looks very simple but it is very complicated everything is complicated Presses the crown firmly down on his head Human beings do not forgive that is the unfortunate truth human beings punish and do not forgive How was your mathematics class today was it good KATHARINA nods Carefully One sip at a time Drink slowly eat slowly and drink slowly also read slowly Today I have subsisted more on Schopenhauer than on water I shall not paint I told you I would paint but I am not going to paint looks around I no longer even notice whether it has been painted or not I do not see the cracks in the wall at all

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in a questioning tone Are there many cracks KATHARINA looks around Probably there are many cracks It will surely be the death of me if I repaint the room Ten years before you were born my wife died Did I tell you that her name was Katharina the same as yours She was very beautiful very exacting and very beautiful looks at the ceiling Meningitis presses the crown firmly down on his head The crown on my head calms me down in a questioning tone How do I look with the crown on now how do I look with the crown on KATHARINA smiles HE Every second Tuesday of the month I allow myself this joke an old man especially when he is old actor may surely be allowed this joke every second Tuesday of the month Actors are like children that is why you and I get along so well stands up and walks to the piece of writing-paper on the wall on which he has written the phrase "Buy mouse-poison, and points to the piece of paper Can you read what is written on that piece of paper KATHARINA Yes HE What is written there

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KATHARINA Buy mouse-poison HE Correct Buy mouse-poison He sits back down stands immediately back up and walks with the chair to the window I no longer catch mice I poison them It disgusts me to drown them in the bucket For decades I drowned the mice in the bucket now I poison them he sits down When my wife was alive there was not a single mouse in the house No sooner had she died than the mice appeared On the ground floor there are rats It won't be long before the rats are here too This house is a storehouse for rats It makes [no] difference whichever direction we choose we choose whichever direction we made the wrong choice he takes the crown off his head and clasps it firmly to his chest Suddenly it makes no sense to keep the crown on my head this crown is heavier than a real one real crowns worn by real kings are not as heavy I never keep it on my head for more than an hour Apart from you nobody has seen me with this crown on my head promise me that you will tell nobody that you have seen me with this crown on my head people used to believe I was mad An actor can manage to put a crown on his head without being mad

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directly to Katharina Come I shall crown you KATHARINA stands up and approaches him HE You must kneel down you must be kneeling down when you are crowned KATHARINA kneels before him HE puts the crown on her head How beautiful you are with the crown on thoughtfully But girls like you have never taken up a crown It is ridiculous suddenly shouting Ridiculous ridiculous it is ridiculous it is ridiculous he snatches the crown off her head KATHARINA has jumped up HE Ridiculous Ridiculous ridiculous Hurls the crown across the room ridiculous He collapses exhausted, then I am not mad naturally I am not mad The whole time I had the crown on I am completely spent I am frightened when you knocked I thought you were the people from the insurance company from the property insurance company I was expecting people from the property insurance company

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I am insured against burglary is that not ridiculous I am insured against burglary I own nothing but this shabby crown and am insured against burglary directly to KATHARINA Come here come here please KATHARINA walks to him He makes as if to touch her face, but then refrains People have not understood that I intend to have nothing further to do with them they come when they like but I open the door to no one Are you coming again next Friday KATHARINA nods I am now going to tell you something in confidence Pay attention resolutely, super-distinctly, and yet softly I do not actually like milk and so I do not drink milk but I wish to see you every Tuesday and Friday I wish to see you do you understand that Not a soul apart from you has access to me not a single one I have always hated milk As soon as you leave I always pour the milk into the sink milk disgusts me But do not tell your mother that You just tell everybody the famous actor in the Hanssachstrasse loves milk and he drinks milk he actually never eats or drinks anything but milk He takes her by the hand My dear child next Friday

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bring me mouse-poison so that I can poison all the mice in this house KATHARINA starts to leave HE holds her back Whenever I am there Every day the famous actor in the Hanssachstrasse drinks milk he exists only because he drinks milk say that to everybody promise me you will he gives Katharina the milk jug and she leaves Throughout our existence we impose upon ourselves we act on a stage he stands up and takes the bowl out of the icebox and empties the milk into the bucket He listens for some time at the door and walks out with the bucket He flushes the toilet Scene Three Towards Evening HE is sitting in a shabby old dressing gown at the chair by the window/on the window-seat was submissive attentive obliging We rushed directly into catastrophe but we survived Committed errors naturally A year [in the] Ludwig Pavilion that humbled you that could have nearly cost you your head looks around I shall not paint I have no need for renovation It is enough if we can sleep well and are not in pain clutches at his head with both hands The crown bears an atrocity The spectators were afraid of me

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not vice versa Lifelong intimacy with me to the point of megalomania She warbled a song that was enough for her I married her out of pity and because I hoped for an heir hoped laughs to himself An incapacity for living at bottom Everything is rising I said to myself Nothing rises Perfected the art of acting and with this perfection fell ill She had not suspected that she must die Perpetual double-dealing they believe they will live for ever that is their mistake they believe they have no defective organs that is their mistake Kidney brain liver gnaw away everything in the end I drove out of her the drive to travel stands up and walks to the door and listens I must write to the administrators of the cemetery Attended no concerts for two years after her death looks at the window Victor died unexpectedly like her The wretched thing is that people do not suspect that they must die in the very near future if they knew that they must die in the very near future they would set out one last time for Leipzig or for the Fichtelgebirge thus they die quite suddenly without having arrived one last time at Leipzig

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at the Fichtelgebirge ties the belt [of the dressing gown] more tightly around his [waist] We do not move that is why we are cold walks to the table and sits down A lifelong repeater of school grades looks at his shoes In the end we wear felt shoes which we always hated I have always hated felt picks up the hammer, stands up and walks to the plinth, bends down hits the nail once with the hammer forcefully, looks around In this pose looks around A motet for her funeral the same motet for Viktor attempts to stand up but fails The mouse-poison under the door and under the window Then word will get around that I am poisoning the mice suddenly cries out Cream of wheat of course cream of wheat stands up and walks to the table, takes the notepad out of the chest and writes the words cream of wheat on it Cream of wheat stands up and sticks the sheet of writing paper on to the nail Woe betide him who takes proceedings against himself in a whisper Never take proceedings against yourself glances at the door Always despised self-cooked food The pre-denture era and the post-denture era When we no longer have our own teeth we have a craving for a bite of Slime of wheat sits down on the chair at the window We hate Schopenhauer and exist out of him we hate the world and exist in it

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I have always hated writers even Goethe came into conflict with the courts A lifelong fear of prison Because we believe we are constantly proceeding incessantly Committing In the end we eat slime of wheat and freeze even when we have on felt shoes and a heavy winter blanket stands up and walks to the door and listens Eighteen tenants that makes things common that fosters deceit and commonness Only when one of them dies do we learn his name I have never gotten involved in a conversation with any residents of this building with the building superintendent yes but not with the residents as such Should the building acquire a communal dumpster they asked me no no no no to be sure the superintendent brings me nothing but every possible disease when I let him come in I shall no longer let him into the apartment He has bought himself a house on the Kitsee everybody is buying houses Horrible house-buying frenzy listens intently at the door Always lived in your shadow she said I never forgave her for this insult The young man believes he has a future but nobody has a future walks to the door, sits down and opens the newspaper after a pause Construction engineer wanted if possible in mid thirties with experience in Africa for Saudi Arabia

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reading after a pause Bookseller seeks two bookseller's apprentices in the [city] center lays the newspaper on the table Felled by a stroke while holding a trouser-hanger a risible death a risible death stands up and walks to the door and listens Taciturnity has always gotten on my nerves I could just as easily have died in Kenya all signs were pointing to it but I did not die in Kenya A lifelong dependence on climate tablet-dependency and climate-dependency listens intently at the door We say we do not need people but it is not true that you do not need people A lust for life that is it I have always had it Perpetual curiosity listens more intently at the door Perpetual curiosity walks to the window and looks out A perpetual lust for life even in foul weather looks down at the street We no longer go down there we look down there but we no longer go down there We have always given people a wide berth every person Now we shall never go down there again looks at the clock In Kenya [courted] death risible death At the invitation of the big game hunter Thompson how risible Looks all four walls up and down Ultimately became famous He draws the roller-blind so as to darken the room completely

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Panic fear of greenhouses of plants in general Greenhousaphobia from childhood through to the present He raises the blind and turns on the light and draws the blind Never took a walk in my entire life lay in bed with the curtains drawn on the weekends acted at the theater or lay in bed goes and winds the clock Paris yes London no Sils Maria yes Saint Moritz no For years ate nothing but low-fat curds walks to the door and listens It is a question of the intensity with which we act after a pause Discontinued on account of insignificance the proceedings were discontinued on account of insignificance they said Incessantly involved in trials but never imprisoned walks to the icebox and takes a sausage out of it The old cheese or the old sausage puts the sausage back into the icebox and takes out of the icebox a piece of cheese sniffs the cheese The sausage would be better puts the cheese back into the icebox and takes the sausage out again, sniffs the sausage No puts the sausage back into the icebox and takes the cheese out again shuts the icebox looks at the door The old people's dance I completely forgot about it that is why it so quiet in the house straightens up and walks with the cheese to the table he unfolds a large sheet of newspaper over the table and sets the cheese on it takes a loaf of bread out of the table-drawer and cuts himself a thick slice Until two years ago I

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still used to go to the old people's dance he begins eating the cheese and bread he pours himself a glass of mineral water from a bottle, drinks, and eats Unhappiness sets in because we no longer think Have forgotten how to think he looks at the door The old people's dance looks at the shopping list on the wall Mouse-poison Cream of wheat For Katharina a lovely Twenty-shilling piece he sticks several more pieces of bread into his mouth and chews He enjoyed universal acclaim they said in the lobby while I was memorizing my lines When I recite Prospero's speeches they pay attention they are obviously enraptured by it he stands up and walks to the tape recorder, presses a button, and sits back down voluntary self-control without scruples unscrupulous he now listens to himself speaking from the tape recorder If anybody sees me here in this pose Complicity A contempt for craftsmen We have all allowed our talents to waste away signalized for askewness doctored in mathematics he walks to the tape recorder and stops it looks around they are obviously enraptured by it he sits down at the table and continues eating Curtain THE END Translation unauthorized but 2011 by Douglas Robertson

A Translation of Einfach kompliziert by Thomas Bernhard