Voice Imitator (The University of Chicago Press)

In "The Voice Imitator," translated by Kenneth Northcott, Bernhard gives us one of his most darkly comic works. A series of parable-like anecdotes -- some drawn from newspaper reports, some from conversation, some from hearsay -- this satire is both subtle and acerbic. What initially appear to be quaint little stories indict the sterility and callousness of modern life, not just in urban centers but everywhere. Bernhard presents an ordinary world careening into absurdity and disaster. Politicians, professionals, tourists, civil servants -- the usual victims of Bernhard's inspired misanthropy -- succumb one after another to madness, mishap, or suicide.