Tuesday 12 December 2006

Café Bräunerhof

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"At the Bräunerhof, above which my friend had lived for years before we met, I am still put off by the foul air and the poor lighting, which is kept down to a minimum - doubtless from perverse considerations of economy - and in which I have never been able to read a single line without effort. …... The Bräunerhof is inimical to all my daily requirements, yet this is precisely what makes it the archetypal Viennese coffeehouse - like the Café Hawelka, completely downmarket." *)

Thomas Bernhard loved to hate the "typical coffeehouse ..... frequented by the literary folk." "I have always hated the Viennese coffeehouse, but I go on visiting them. I have visited them every day, for although I have always hated them - and because I have always hated them - I have always suffered of the Viennese coffeehouse disease. I have suffered more from this disease than from any other." *)

*) Thomas Bernhard in "Wittgenstein's Nephew", University of Chicago Press.

Walking by the Bräunerhof I'm always tempted to check if the great author is holding forth (by himself, of course) or if poor Paul Wittgenstein strolls by with one of his plastic bags of fruit.


An old-fashioned Christmas tree in the Bräunerhof neighborhood.

Merisi's link: Closing Time at Café Bräunerhof.
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2 comments:

  1. Love the lit wreath. I think I want some like that for my windows...

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  2. OH MY!!!!!
    These are ALL so pretty!
    Aren't you lucky to be there and see all this! You just need a bit of snow now to polish it off :)
    MERCI!

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