A writer he did not want to be, but rather someone who writes. At the same time, he saw himself as a destroyer of stories and an exaggeration artist, characterized by others as a misanthrope or an Alpine Beckett. One thing is certain amidst such differing opinions: Bernhard's works, both his prose and his plays, undeniably belong to world literature and can be read in nearly 50 languages around the globe. This quarto edition presents his nine novels in a secure text version - from the debut novel "Frost" from 1963 to "Das Kalkwerk" and "Korrektur," culminating in the monumental final volume "Auslöschung" from 1986. Martin Huber and Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler describe the creation, relevance, and impact of Bernhard's novels in a detailed concluding essay. This volume offers a savings of 71% compared to the individual volumes.