''Concrete'' (''Beton'', 1982) is a novel by the Austrian writer

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, iso ...

. Like many of Bernhard’s books, ''Concrete'' is written in the form of a

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

—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 * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

amateur

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

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 White blood cell, inflammatory cells that form lumps known as granulomata. The disease usually begins in the lungs, skin, or lymph n ...

, 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 Austrian novels Novels by Thomas Bernhard Novels set in Vienna {{1980s-novel-stub