SOURCE: A review of Elisabeth II, in World Literature Today, Vol. 62, No. 3, Summer, 1988, pp. 452–53.

In the following mixed assessment of Elisabeth II, Daviau maintains that “Bernhard offers a very small slice of life here, and though the trip through the work is pleasant enough, one is left wondering whether the journey has been worthwhile.”

Thomas Bernhard has convincingly proved to everyone’s satisfaction that he is a virtuoso of linguistic technique. No author in Austria today uses language more effectively to express character. His protagonists give the impression that they are talking in everyday terms, arguing, complaining, criticizing, and nagging, but the result is a total exposure of the inner being of the individual. We have experienced this technique in drama after drama in rapid succession, and the latest play, Elisabeth II, which bears the designation “Keine Komödie,” fits into the same pattern.

The play is neither...