Selected Works of Konrad Bayer

by Konrad Bayer

"This, the first and definitive, selection from his works assembles together a large proportion of his translatable texts, and is accompanied by a full introduction and comprehensive notes and commentaries. It is illustrated by photographs of Bayer from his film collaboration with Ferry Radax Sun Stop!"

Genres: Fiction, Poetry

153 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1986

About the author

Konrad Bayer (17 December 1932 – October 1964) was an Austrian writer and poet. A member of the Wiener Gruppe, he combined apparently irreconcilable elements—violence, hermeticism, pessimism, ecstasy, banality—and influences (dadaism, surrealism, pataphysics, Wittgenstein, Stirner, Sade et al.)—into a bizarre[citation needed] linguistic solipsism which has held increasing fascination for German writers of the last few decades. His most important works are the novels Der Kopf des Vitus Bering (The Head of Vitus Bering) and Der sechste Sinn (The Sixth Sense), published posthumously in 1965 and 1966, respectively. Bayer committed suicide in October 1964 at the age of 32.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains the first published English-language translations of Vienna Group member Konrad Bayer's writing, courtesy of Atlas Press in 1986, with notes and introduction from main translator Malcolm Green. Bayer is the Vienna Group member who drew the widest literary attention, though not until after the group had disbanded and Bayer himself had committed suicide at age 32, just prior to which he'd signed a major publishing contract. Fellow member Gerhard Rühm accomplished much of the editorial work in bringing Bayer's writing to light after his death. This collection includes various prose pieces, short dramas, poetry written by employing unconventional techniques such as montage and mathematical models, the philosopher's stone (a collection of texts Bayer described as having been written for 'the reader who is ready to exert himself', and which was the only work Bayer published in book form prior to his death), and excerpts from the unfinished novel the sixth sense. The only other major work of Bayer's that is not excerpted here is the head of vitus bering, his only complete novel, also published in English translation by Atlas.

Bayer's fantastic imagination and mastery of language are evident, though some pieces are more memorable than others. One highlight of otherwordly lyrical power is 'the bird sings', a stunning poem created using a poetry 'machine' known as the 'time trumpet', based on a complicated mathematical system described by Bayer in the notes section. Another strong piece is 'twenty-six names', a collection of short prose portraits of 26 individuals, whose names each begin with a different letter of the alphabet. Many of the prose pieces and dramas (e.g., 'ferdinandlein' and 'adventures in outer space') exhibit humor similar to that of surrealist and absurdist texts, using animals, odd juxtapositions of people and objects, and unusual use of language, including non sequiturs, neologisms, and wordplay. Bayer also depicts extreme violence in certain texts, which could be jarring if it weren't so casually inserted. Bayer refused to stay within boundaries of language use and literary technique, which results in a vast spectrum of readability ranging from the riveting to the nearly impossible to parse, at least on the first read (and sometimes even after a third or fourth).

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Died too soon, as this compilation of creative writing proves.