''Concrete'' (''Beton'', 1982) is a novel by

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

writer

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizat ...

. Like many of Bernhard’s books, ''Concrete'' is written in the form of a monologue—essentially a rant lasting for 150 pages with no chapter breaks or even separate paragraphs—by Rudolf, a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

amateur

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

and convalescent. Almost completely isolated from the world, Rudolf, who suffers from

sarcoidosis Sarcoidosis (also known as ''Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease'') is a disease involving abnormal collections of inflammatory cells that form lumps known as granulomata. The disease usually begins in the lungs, skin, or lymph nodes. Less commonly a ...

, has spent his adult life pursuing many writing projects on classical musicians. A new edition of the novel, along with other out-of-print works by Bernhard, was published in 2012 on Faber & Faber's 'Faber Finds' imprint.

References

1982 novels {{1980s-novel-stub