A review by piccoline
Three Paths to the Lake by Ingeborg Bachmann

5.0

Stunning. Brilliant, demanding stories, intertwined by themes and recurring characters. Bachmann should be better known, but perhaps she's too jagged or too honest. Her portrayals of how men and women interact are consistently excellent, the small persistent misunderstandings and how hard it can be to even communicate. Her women, too, battle for respect and autonomy. This is strong and inspiring stuff.

I began my reading of Ingeborg to explore how she influenced Thomas Bernhard, another favorite of mine. Now, for me, she stands alongside him, shoulder to shoulder, two Austrian literary behemoths, brutal and unflinching in their honesty and dedication to their singular approaches to literary art.