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Author	Michel Houellebecq
Original title	Extension du domaine de la lutte
Translator	Paul Hammond
Country	France
Language	French
Publisher	Éditions Maurice Nadeau (French edition) |Serpent's Tail (British edition)
Publication date	1994
Published in English	1998

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Thomas Bernhard lead

Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (German: [ˈtoːmas ˈbɛʁnhaʁt]; 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, isolation, obsession and illness in controversial literature that was pessimistic about the human condition and highly critical of post-war Austrian and European culture. He developed a distinctive prose style often featuring multiple perspectives on characters and events, idiosyncratic vocabulary and punctuation, and long monologues by protagonists on the verge of insanity.

Born in the Netherlands to his unwed Austrian mother, for much of his childhood he lived with his maternal grandparents in Austria and in boarding homes in Austria and Nazi Germany. He was closest to his grandfather, the novelist Johannes Freumbichler, who introduced his to literature and philosophy. As a youth, he contracted pleurisy and tuberculosis and lived with debilitating lung disease for the rest of his life. While recovering in a sanatorium he began writing poetry and stories and met Hedwig Stavianicek, a wealthy heiress who supported his literary ambitions and whom he later described as the most important person in his life.

After his breakthrough novel Frost (1963), he established himself over the next twenty years as a leading German prose writer and playwright. His major works include the novels Correction (1975) and Extinction (1986) and his memoirs Gathering Evidence (1975-82). George Steiner called him: "at his best, the foremost craftsman of German prose after Kafka and Musil." He influenced the Austrian vernacular and a younger generation of Austrian writers including Elfriede Jelinek.

Bernhard was controversial in Austria for his public polemics against what he saw as his homeland's post-war cultural pretensions, antisemitism, provincialism and denial of its Nazi past. While critics labelled him a Nestbeschmutzer (one who fouls his own nest), he described himself as a troublemaker. He died of heart failure in his apartment in Gmunden, Upper Austria, in February 1989. Controversy extended beyond his death of when it was revealed that his will sought to prohibit the publication or performance of his works in Austria for 70 years.

Expanded content. Renamed section to reflect new content. Moved some content from Reception and Legacy section to Life and Work section. See Talk.

Life and work

Hello all

I have significantly expanded this section and renamed it to reflect the new content. I have replaced some unsourced material and content with dubious sources with material based on the major biographies by Honegger (2001) and Mittermayer (2015). I have moved some material from the Reception and Legacy section to the Life and Work section.

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Life and work

Early life (1931–1950)

Thomas Bernhard was born on 9 February 1931 in Heerlen, the Netherlands, where his unmarried Austrian mother, Herta Bernhard, worked as a maid. In the autumn of 1931, Herta took Thomas to live in Vienna with her parents: Anna Bernhard and her de facto husband, the novelist Johannes Freumbichler. (Thomas never met his biological father, Alois Zuckerstätter, who refused to acknowledge him and committed suicide in 1940.)

In 1935, Herta's parents moved with Thomas to Seekirchen, near Salzburg. In 1936, Herta married Emil Fabjan and the following year moved with him and Thomas to Traunstein, Bavaria, in Nazi Germany. Fabjan never adopted Thomas, and Bernhard always referred to him as his guardian rather than his step-father. Herta's parents moved to the nearby village of Ettendorf in 1939. Bernhard was closest to his grandfather and later called him "an anarchist, if only in spirit." Freumbichler introduced Bernhard to literature and philosophy and was a major influence on his life.

Bernhard was miserable in the Nazi school system where he was required to join the Deutsches Jungvolk, a branch of the Hitler Youth, which he hated. At age eight, he was sent to a home for maladjusted children and at age 12 to a boarding school in Salzburg where he experienced allied bombing raids. After the war, the Fabjan and Freumbichler families moved to Salzburg where Bernhard continued his schooling. In 1947, Bernhard left school to start an apprenticeship with a grocer.

Berhard took private singing lessons and aspired to become an opera singer. In early 1949, he developed pleurisy and was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. He stayed in various hospitals and sanatoreums until January 1951. Bernhard's grandfather died in 1949 and his mother died of cancer the following year.

In 1950, while staying at the Grafenhof sanatorium in Sankt Veit im Pongau, Bernhard met Hedwig Stavianicek (1894–1984), a wealthy heiress who was more than thirty-seven years his senior. Stavianicek was to provide him with financial and emotional support and introductions to patrons of art and culture. Bernhard later called her his Lebensmensch (a predominantly Austrian term coined by Bernhard which refers to the most important person in one's life). He cared for her in her home in Vienna in the last months of her life in 1984.

Literary apprenticeship (1951–1963)

From 1951 to 1955, Bernhard worked as a court reporter and cultural journalist for the Salzburg newspaper Demokratisches Volksblatt. He continued his private singing lessons and had poems and short stories published in the Volksblatt and other publications. In late 1955, he published a scathing critique of the Salzburger Landestheater and the ensuing controversy ended his journalistic career. From autumn 1955 to 1957, with the financial and emotional support of Stavianicek, he studied acting and singing at the Salzburg Mozarteum. There he met a music student Ingrid Bülau. They became close friends and at one point considered marriage.

From 1956 to 1960, Bernhard was associated with the literary and cultural groups centred on the magazine Stimmen der Gegenwart (Voices of the Present) and the composer Gerhard Lampersberg and his wife, the singer Maja Lampersberg. In 1957 and 1958, Bernhard's first volumes of poetry were published: Auf der Erde und in der Hölle (on Earth and in Hell), In hora mortis (at the hour of death), and Unter dem Eisen des Mondes (Under the Steely Moon). His libretto for Gerhard Lampersberg's Die Rosen der Einöde (Roses of the Wasteland) was also published in 1958.

From 1960 to 1963 Bernhard travelled extensively in Austria, England and mainland Europe. In 1962, he wrote the a draft of a novel Frost which was revised and published in 1963.

Established author (1963–1978)

Bernhard's poetry received little critical attention but Frost sparked controversy and divided critical opinion. Novelist Carl Zuckmayer praised the novel and it won the Julius Campe Prize and the Bremen Literature Prize. Bernhard's novella Amras was published in 1964 and according to biographer Gitta Honegger, consolidated his favourable critical reputation. In 1965, Bernhard bought a disused farmhouse in Obernathal, Upper Austria. For the rest of his life he divided most of his time between his farmhouse and Stavianicek's flat in Vienna.

In 1967, after completing his second major novel Gargoyles, Bernhard had surgery to remove a tumour from his lungs and spent several months recovering in the Baumgartnerhöhe sanatorium. The following year he was awarded the Austrian Little State Prize for emerging talent. His acceptance speech, in which he stated, ''We are Austrians, we are apathetic; we are life as crass disinterest in life; in the process of nature we are megalomania..." caused an uproar and an angry response from the Austrian minister for culture. The following year, the ceremony for the Anton Wildgans Prize was cancelled when the organisers learned that Bernhard intended to deliver a revised version of the same speech.

In 1970, Bernhard's novel The Lime Works was published and his first professionally produced play, A Party for Boris, premiered at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg. The production was overseen by German director Claus Peymann who went on to direct most of Bernhard's premiers for the rest of the author's career. The Lime Works and A Party for Boris earned Bernhard the Georg Büchner Prize. When Bernhard was awarded the Grillparzer Prize for the same play in 1972, he staged a protest because the organisers of the ceremony didn't recognise him and escort him to his seat.

The 1970s was Bernhard's most productive decade. His plays The Ignoramus and the Madman (1972) and The Force of Habit: A Comedy (1974) premiered at the Salzburg Festival, The Hunting Party (1974) and The President (1975) premiered at the Vienna Burgtheater, and Minetti (1976), Immanuel Kant (1978) and The Eve of Retirement (1979) premiered at the Stuttgart Staatstheater under Peymann. His novel Correction (1975) is widely considered his masterpiece and his five volumes of memoirs (1975-82) (collected in English translation as Gathering Evidence) achieved critical acclaim.

Final years and late work (1978–89)

In 1978, Bernhard was diagnosed with sarcoidosis and a terminal heart complaint. His half-brother Peter Fabjan, a doctor of medicine, moved to Gmunden, near the author's farmhouse, and became his unofficial medical adviser. In 1979, Bernhard resigned from the German Academy for Language and Literature when it made the former West German president Walter Scheel an honorary member. In a letter to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he called the academy pretentious and hypocritical for admitting mediocre politicians.

Bernhard continued his prolific output in the 1980s. Eight new full-length plays were premiered and he wrote a series of novels comprising long monologues by aging and ill protagonists whom Honegger states are, like Bernhard, "in a race against death." His 1984 novel Woodcutters was controversial for its attack on Austrian culture and cultural figures. Gerhard Lampersberg sued him for defamation but later withdrew his suit. The novel was Bernhard's most commercially successful, selling 60,000 copies within six weeks of publication.

Bernhard frequently engaged in public controversies, writing letters, opinion pieces and satirical sketches for newspapers and magazines in which he attacked politicians, public figures and European culture. He was often criticised as a Nestbeschmutzer (one who fouls his own nest; that is, Austria) but preferred to call himself a troublemaker. His final play Heldenplatz (1988), commissioned for the celebrations of the centenary of Vienna's Burgtheater, sparked another controversy when the press revealed that it would include attacks on Austria for antisemitism and denial of its Nazi past. Numerous politicians and public figures called for a ban on the production, Bernhard received death threats, and the Burgtheater was guarded by 200 police officers on the opening night of the play in November 1988.

Following the Heldenplatz dispute, Bernhard's health deteriorated. He died of heart failure in his apartment in Gmunden on 12 February 1989. His reputation as a troublemaker continued beyond the grave when a clause of his will was published, stipulating that none of his works or plays could be performed in Austria for the duration of copyright:

I emphasize expressly that I do not want to have anything to do with the Austrian state and that I reject in perpetuity not only all interference but any overtures in this regard by this Austrian state concerning my person or my work. After my death, not a word shall be published from my papers, wherever such may exist, including letters and scaps of paper.

— Thomas Bernhard, Last will and testament

blah blad

Life

Bernhard's Lebensmensch (a predominantly Austrian term, which was coined by Bernhard himself and which refers to the most important person in one's life) was Hedwig Stavianicek (1894–1984), a woman more than thirty-seven years his senior, whom he cared for alone in her dying days. He had met Stavianicek in 1950, the year of his mother's death and one year after the death of his beloved grandfather. Stavianicek was the major support in Bernhard's life and greatly furthered his literary career. The extent or nature of his relationships with women is obscure. Thomas Bernhard's public persona was asexual.

until 1937 when his mother, who had married in the meantime, moved him to Traunstein, Bavaria, in Nazi Germany. There he was required to join the Deutsches Jungvolk, a branch of the Hitler Youth, which he hated. Bernhard's natural father Alois Zuckerstätter was a carpenter and petty criminal who refused to acknowledge his son. Zuckerstätter died in Berlin from gas poisoning in an assumed suicide in 1940; Bernhard never met him.

Bernhard's grandfather, the author Johannes Freumbichler, pushed for an artistic education for him, including musical instruction. Bernhard went to elementary school in Seekirchen and later attended various schools in Salzburg including the Johanneum which he left in 1947 to start an apprenticeship with a grocer. George Steiner describes Bernhard's schooling as "hideous... under a sadistically repressive system, run first by Catholic priests, then by Nazis".

Bernhard's Lebensmensch (a predominantly Austrian term, which was coined by Bernhard himself and which refers to the most important person in one's life) was Hedwig Stavianicek (1894–1984), a woman more than thirty-seven years his senior, whom he cared for alone in her dying days. He had met Stavianicek in 1950, the year of his mother's death and one year after the death of his beloved grandfather. Stavianicek was the major support in Bernhard's life and greatly furthered his literary career. The extent or nature of his relationships with women is obscure. Thomas Bernhard's public persona was asexual. Suffering throughout his teens from lung ailments, including tuberculosis, Bernhard spent the years 1949 to 1951 at the Grafenhof sanatorium in Sankt Veit im Pongau. He trained as an actor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (1955–1957) and was always profoundly interested in music. His lung condition, however, made a career as a singer impossible. After that he worked briefly as a journalist, mainly as a crime reporter, and then became a full-time writer. In 1970, he won the Georg Büchner Prize.

In 1978, Bernhard was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. After a decade of needing constant medical care for his lungs, he died in 1989 in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Although there have been claims that he died by assisted suicide, contemporaneous obituaries reported, and Bernhard's half-brother, Dr. Peter Fabjan, confirmed that Bernhard had a heart attack. His death was announced only after his funeral. In his will, which aroused great controversy on publication, Bernhard prohibited any new stagings of his plays and publication of his unpublished work in Austria; however, in 1999 this was annulled by his heir, Peter Fabjan. Bernhard's attractive house in Ohlsdorf-Obernathal 2 where he had moved in 1965 is now a museum and centre for the study and performance of his work.

Work

Often criticized in Austria as a Nestbeschmutzer (one who dirties his own nest) for his critical views, Bernhard was highly acclaimed abroad. Nevertheless, while reviled by some Austrians for his outspoken and harsh views of his homeland, including its Nazi past, he was, during his lifetime, also highly acclaimed in Austria, winning major awards, and was seen by many as the preeminent writer of the time. [Delete mostly unsourced. Only source is a dead link to a dubious site.]

His work is most influenced by the feeling of being abandoned (in his childhood and youth) and by his incurable illness, which caused him to see death as the ultimate essence of existence. His work typically features loners' monologues explaining, to a rather silent listener, their views on the state of the world, often with reference to a concrete situation and sometimes reported secondhand by the listener. Alongside his serious and pessimistic views, his works also contain funny observations on life. [Delete but retain source. A ridiculous summary of excellent source.]

Bernhard is often considered a verbose writer, but Andreas Dorschel has broadened this view by showing that Bernhard's characters (specifically in Das Kalkwerk) oscillate between excessive speech and highly economical expressions. As Dorschel argues, the two modes produce a series of oppositions with mutually informing sides. [Delete. Stupid summary of German source about Kalkwerk.]

Bernhard's main protagonists, often scholars or, as he calls them, Geistesmenschen (intellectuals), denounce everything that matters to the Austrian in contumacy-filled tirades against a "stupid populace". He also attacks the state (often called "Catholic-National-Socialist"), generally respected institutions such as Vienna's Burgtheater, and much-loved artists. His work also deals with the isolation and self-destruction of people striving for an unreachable perfection, since this same perfection would mean stagnancy and therefore death. Anti-Catholic rhetoric is not uncommon. [Delete. Unsourced.]

"Es ist alles lächerlich, wenn man an den Tod denkt" (It's all ridiculous, when one thinks of death) was his comment when he received a minor Austrian national award in 1968, which resulted in one of the many public scandals he caused over the years and which became part of his fame. His novel Holzfällen (1984), for instance, could not be published for years because of a defamation claim by a former friend. Many of his plays—above all Heldenplatz (1988)—were met with criticism from many Austrians, who claimed they sullied Austria's reputation. One of the more controversial lines referred to Austria as "a brutal and stupid nation ... a mindless, cultureless sewer which spreads its penetrating stench all over Europe." Heldenplatz, as well as the other plays Bernhard wrote in these years, were staged at Vienna's famous Burgtheater by the controversial director Claus Peymann. [Delete. Unsourced.]

Even in death Bernhard caused disturbance with his "posthumous literary emigration," as he supposedly called it, by which his will disallowed all publication and stagings of his work within Austria. The International Thomas Bernhard Foundation, established by his executor and half-brother Dr. Peter Fabjan, has since made exceptions, although the German firm of Suhrkamp remains his principal publisher. [Delete. Unsourced.]

The correspondence between Bernhard and his publisher Siegfried Unseld from 1961 to 1989 – about 500 letters – was published in December 2009 at Suhrkamp Verlag, Germany.

Themes and style

Themes

Bernhard's work is strongly autobiographical, although fact and fiction are freely mixed. According to Honegger, "Bernhard's life and work are inextricably intertwined with Austria's convulsive history in the twentieth century."

His work presents a pessimistic view of the human condition in which death is an inescapable presence. Critic Mark Anderson states, "death in his writing comes as a random, unjustifiable, but unavoidable cut in existence that cancels all previous hope and striving." Literary critic Stephen Dowding states that in Berhard's fiction there is no redemption for man in religion, politics, art or history.

The typical Bernhard protagonist is a middle-age male who, according to Dowden, is "self-absorbed, histrionically pessimistic, and motivated by a deep loathing of culture and self," but who is nevertheless "strangely charismatic because of the powerful musical language with which he expresses his inner life." His protagonists must "learn to live without recourse to metaphysical lies or utopian deceptions."

Bernhard depicts a postwar Austria steeped in cultural pretensions, antisemitism, denial of its Nazi past and devotion to a morally bankrupt Catholicism. Dowden argues that Austria is often used as a metaphor for the human condition. Just as Austrian history is a story of decline into insignificance, so human beings struggle pointlessly against death; just as Austria engages in self-deception regarding its past and its place in the world, so human beings engage in self-deceptions about the redemptive power of religion, family and culture.

Recurring motifs in Bernhard's work include isolation, incest, madness, chronic illness and suicide. Many of Bernhard's characters suffer from mental and physical illness which Dowden sees as metaphors for Bernhard's moral pessimism and the decline of European society and culture. His protagonists are often engaged in failed intellectual and artistic projects in a futile and destructive attempt to achieve perfection and thus transcend death.

In the face of inevitable death, Bernhard's characters often demonstrate a will to survive. Biographer Gitta Honegger states, "The Überlebenskünstler is Bernhard's central archetype: the survival artist as a virtuoso performance artist." Dowden argues that Bernhard's works also attest to a will to rebel against conformity and develop an independent self identity: "His entire oeuvre amounts to one unswerving experiment in thinking against the grain, in forcing the imagination to explore the parts of life it resists the most."

Style

Bernhard developed a distinctive prose style which is often described as musical, emphasising the rhythms of Austrian German, repetition of key phrases, and variations on recognisable themes. Anderson states that his prose works "all spring, or appear to spring, from the obsessive monologue going on inside Bernhard’s head, a continuous text uttered by a single droning voice that is endlessly reformulated, corrected, and filtered through a hundred different registers." Honegger distinguishes between Bernhard's early prose which was characterised my multiple perspectives and stylistic experimentation and the late works beginning with Yes (1978) which she calls "concerts for a solo mind."

Bernhard is known for his distinctive punctuation and vocabulary. Many of his works comprise a stream of long sentences, unbroken by any paragraph or chapter markings. Honegger states: "His verbal inventions have entered the German vocabulary. His constructions of interminably interlocked clauses and sub-clauses stretch the German language to its limit."

Bernhard's tone is often described as satirical, ironic, polemical and unsentimental. Dowden argues that the extreme and often contradictory views of his protagonists invite the reader to detect ironies and read them as satires. Readers are not expected to accept or reject the opinions of Bernhard's protagonists but to engage with their "verbal struggle against death".

Bernhard's pessimism is often undercut by comedy and black humour. According to Anderson: "The death narrative is always also the record of survival, a survival through a grotesquely jubilant, at times comic writing." Dowden states that "comedy arises when people attempt to create meaning or convince themselves that the world holds something for them....[It is] an austere comedy of catastrophe, despair and mockery."

Reception and legacy

Bernhard is widely considered one of the most important German-language writers of the second half of the 20th-century. Critics generally consider his major prose works to be Correction (1975), Extinction (1986) and his five volumes of memoirs (1975-82) (collected in English translation as Gathering Evidence.)

Bernhard wrote 18 full-length plays, many of which premiered at leading German-language venues including the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Burgtheatre. His plays polarised audiences and critics and often caused media and political controversy for their pessimism and polemics against Austrian and European culture and institutions. According to Dowden: "His public was eager to see what powerful figure he would insult next, what enraged outcry he would elicit, who would try to sue him, and how he would respond."

Honegger states that Bernhard's prose style has influenced the German language: "his performative grammar and incendiary vocabulary have been appropriated by politicians of all persuasions, exploited by the media, and imitated by lesser writers." Bernhard has influenced younger Austrian writers including Elfriede Jelinek, Lilian Faschinger, Robert Menasse and Josef Haslinger. His works have been translated into over 20 languages, and Dagmar Lorenz states that he is one of the few Austrian authors that have won international acclaim.

In 1999, Bernhard's literary executor lifted the ban on the performance of his plays in Austria. Although Bernhard stipulated in his will that none of his unpublished writings should be published, this has sometimes been circumvented. Notably, a memoir My Prizes appeared in 2009 and his correspondence with his publisher Siegfried Unseld from 1961 to 1989 – about 500 letters – was published in December 2009. Bernhard's collected works were published in 22 volumes from 2003 to 2015.

Bernhard's half-brother and literary executor, Peter Fabjan, is honorary secretary of the International Thomas Bernhard Society. The Thomas Bernhard house in Ohlsdorf/Obernathal is open to the public.

Bernhard notes

[The following was incorporated into Biography section.]

His poetry of the late 1950s received little critical attention but his first published novel Frost (1963) sparked controversy and divided critical opinion. Novelist Carl Zuckmayer praised the novel and it won the Julius Campe Prize and the Bremen Literature Prize. In 1970, Bernhard received the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize for his novel The Lime Works (1970) and his play A Party for Boris (1970).

His most commercially successful novel was Woodcutters (1984) which sold 60,000 copies within six weeks of publication.

Berhard wrote 15 novels, 18 full-length plays and several volumes of memoirs and poetry. (Dowden p. 1). (Note that classification of his prose works into novels, stories and memoirs varies between critics.)

"The memoirs are often considered Bernhard's literary masterwork." "Relentlessly facing the 'truth' about himself, his family, and his culture, he produced his greatest work of fiction." (Honegger p. xiii-xiv)

Correction is arguably his masterpiece. (Honegger 39)

“Correction” marked the apotheosis of this style and is perhaps Bernhard’s masterpiece. (Franklin).

" his great valedictory novel Extinction", Honegger p 175

Freudian analysis unfruitful. B work does not spring from the unconscious but from history and politics. They have transformed Austria into "a moral wasteland". (Dowden p 3).

Brief biography: pp 8-9.

Bernhard's published poetry and stories of the late 1950s did not establish him as a writer. He was little known before Frost was published in 1963 to praise from Carl Zuckmayer. (Dowden pp. 14-15).

Frost polarised critical opinion but established Bernhard as a literary figure.(Dowden p 21). Novel won the Julius Campe Prize (1964) and the Bremen Literature Prize (1965).

Gargoyes: a young student is exposed to wife beating, pederasty, incest, madness and cruelty. The dark and fobidding landscape is presented as a metaphor as well as a cause for the human cruelties and abnormal psychological states. (Dowden p 24)

The Lime Works was a response to the German trend for documentary novels on social and political themes. Lime Works depicts contradictory perspectives on events and a protagonist whose obssessive pursuit of scientific truth leads to madness and murder. (Dowden p 29).

In Wittgenstein's Nephew, it is important that Bernhard buys a suit on the day of the ceremony and returns it straight after the ceremony. His acceptance speech was a performance in which he slipped into and slipped out of a character role just as he bought and returned his suit. (Dowden p 44-45).

Cutting Timber sparked a law suit for defamation and a temporary ban on the sale of the novel in Austria.(Dowden p 55).

Dowden states that Bernhard's plays are tied to a particular time, place and specific actors, and as texts they are thinner than his prose fiction. (Dowden p 71)

Plays were popular in German theatres in the 1970s and 1980s. (Dowden p 71). A Party for Boris premiered in 1970 at the Hamburg Shauspielhaus to critical acclaim. He became a prominent force in German-language theatre. (Honegger xv)

Bernhard's plays focus on the language and the stage presence of particular actors, rather than plot and spectacle. They were media events in which the audience was eager to find out who the targets of his latest satire would be. Productions were often steeped in controversy which Bernhard stoked with uncompromising behaviour. (Dowden p 71-73)

Yes marks the transition to Bs later performance prose. Previous works involved construction of a person from letters, notes and fragmentary testimony. 189

Late works are “concerts for a solo mind.” P 222

Will to observe and record his version of the truth.

Bernhard's protagonists are modelled on his grandfather Johannes Freumbichler. (Dowden p 48). Memoirs champions intellectual anarchy and chaos. Similar to his award acceptance speeches and dramas which attacked the very institutions that lauded and staged his work. (Dowden p 49).

His work attests to a will to survive and a love of music. ((Dowden pp 8-9) (Honegger x.). (A will to report.) His work is an experiment in thinking against the grain: he is writing against the world and himself. ((Dowden p 4).

sibling rivalry, incest and disfunctional families. as metaphors for the decline of the Austrian aristocracy and state. (Dowden. p/ 21-23).

Bernhard was criticised as a Nestbeschmutzer. Honegger xi.

Will prohibited all publication or performance of his work in Austria for the term of copyright. (Honegger xi) (Dowden 83).

Berhard's preoccupations include his family, his country and Austria's literary establishment (Dowden p. xi).

Themes: disease, isolation, madness and death. (Dowden p. 2). Disease is a metaphor for Bernhard's moral pessimism rooted in Austria's history. (Dowden p 66).

Theme of perfectionism: the futile and destructive desire to perfect one's life and work as a way of trascending death. (Dowden pp 62-63).

"Death ... cancels all possibility of transcendance." ((Dowden p 4) Bernhard's work is motivated by a struggle against death and a determination to observe the world and report his truth about the world. (Dowden p 6) Dowden calls his work, "a collection of suicide notes." p 6

Will to observe and record his version of the truth.

Theme: Austria's postwar antisemitism, denial of its Nazi past, cultural pretensions and devotion to a morally bankrupt Catholicism. Honegger ix-xi

Memoirs criticises Austria's amnesia about its Nazi past. (Dowden p 50). Austria is often used as a metaphor for the human condition. Just as Austrian history is a story of decline into insignificance, so human beings struggle pointlessly against death. Just as Austria engaged in sef-deception regarding its past and its place in the world, so human beings engage in self-deceptions about the redemptive power of religion, family and culture. (Dowden xii)

Theme: The expression of individual will and perception of the world in the face of death and Austrian conformism. Celebrates non-conformists such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Glenn Gould. ((Dowden p 6) But this leads to the comedy of the destructive pursuit of perfection, often to the point of madness.((Dowden p 6).

Theme of chronic illness: creates critical detachment from conventional life, promotes life of the mind, keeps the subject in touch with death. Also an metaphor for the socials ills. (Dowden p 20)

The typical Bernhard protagonist is a middle-age male who is "self-absorbed, histrionically pessimistic, and motivated by a deep loathing of culture and self" but is "strangely charismatic because of the powerful musical language with which he expresses his inner life." (Dowden p 16)

Major theme of his work is rebellion and developing an idependent self identity. (Which contradicts D's claim that B had nothing to do with Existentialism.) (Dowden pp 53-54). Bernhard's protagonists are modelled on his grandfather Johannes Freumbichler. (Dowden p 48). Memoirs champions intellectual anarchy and chaos. Similar to his award acceptance speeches and dramas which attacked the very institutions that lauded and staged his work. (Dowden p 49).

His work attests to a will to survive and a love of music. ((Dowden pp 8-9) (Honegger x.). (A will to report.) His work is an experiment in thinking against the grain: he is writing against the world and himself. ((Dowden p 4).

Recurring motifs: Madness, chronic illness, failed artistic or intellectual ambitions, sibling rivalry, incest and disfunctional families as metaphors for the decline of the Austrian aristocracy and state. (Dowden. p/ 21-23).

Pessimism: Berhard's protagonists "learn to live without recourse to metaphysical lies or utopian deceptions." There is no redemption for man in religion, politics, art or history. (Dowden xii).

Not existentialist because there is no possibility of humans creating meaning in life through their own actions. Berhard finds black humour in the comedy of people who "attempt to create meaning or convince themselves that the world holds something for them." ((Dowden p 4)

But B rejects the existentialist view that authenticity and autonomy have value as responses to death. These are illusions with historical roots. To be authentic would be authentically Austria: ie a failed antisemite. (Dowden p 7)

Protagonists often say: "No one recognises the decisive moment." (Dowden p 21) (This is an allusion to Heidegger's concept of "moment of decision").

Incest theme: reflects the degenerate culture of Austria, the Austrian union with Nazi Germany in 1938, and the oppression of women. (Doesn't mention the inbdreeding of the Hapsburg dynasty and Austrian aristocracy.) (Dowden p 34-35).

Bernhard is sceptical of the ability to represent the truth of the world in language. (Dowden p 14, 51). Bernhard stated that while writers may aspire to truth, the truth is impossible to communicate in language. (Dowden p 30).

Bernhard isn't a misogynist: he despises everyone equally. (Dowden p 17) Apparent misogyny is really a critique of mysogyny: the characters who oppress and denigrate women are usually isolated, half-mad misanthropes who can't be taken seriously.(Dowden p 35).

Bernhard not a progressive: in 1966 he stated that "the global proletarian revolt" heralded Austria's decline. (Dowden p 23)

Bernhard was not a political writer and rejected all ideologies. (Honegger xii.)

Thomas Bernhard Awards

Bernhard received numerous awards in recognition for his work. These include:

• Julius Campe Prize (1964) (Awarded for Frost)
• Bremen Literature Prize (1965) (Awarded for Frost)
• Literature Prize of the Federal Association of German Industry (1967)
• Förderungspreis für Literatur (Austrian Little State Prize for Literature) (1968)
• Anton Wildgans Prize (1969) (Awarded by the Austrian Association of Industrialists)
• Georg Büchner Prize (1970) (Awarded by the German Academy for Language and Poetry for A Party for Boris and The Lime Works)
• Franz Theordor Csokor Prize (1972)
• Adolf Grimme Prize (1972)
• Grillparzer Prize (1972) (Awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the play A Party for Boris)
• Hannover Dramatists Prize (1974)
• Prix Séguier (1974)
• Literature Prize of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce (1976) (Awarded for Der Keller [The Cellar])
• Mondello Prize (Premio letterario internazionale Mondello Città di Palermo) (1983)
• Prix Médicis étranger (1988)

Bernhard references

Dowden, Stephen D. (1991). Understanding Thomas Bernhard. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0872497593.

Honegger, Gitta (2001). Thomas Bernhard, the Making of an Austrian. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300089996.

Konzett, Matthies, ed. (2002). A Companion to the Works of Thomas Bernhard. Rochester, NY: Camden House. ISBN 1571132163.

Mittermayer, Manfred (2015). Thomas Bernhard: Eine Biografie (in German). Vienna and Salzburg: Residenz Verlag. ISBN 978-3701733644.

James Cook

Blainey (2020), "Cook's [1767] voyage has become more controversial, especially in Australia where his discovery and its consequences are now questioned by Aboriginal leaders and by many historians. In Sydney his statue was recently vandalised. The great navigator is branded as an invader and destroyer."

Stephen Gapps (2020) states, " In the broader strategic sense – as all 18th and early 19th century scientific voyages were – Cook’s voyages were part of a European drive to conquer. The aim was to claim resources and trade in support of the British Empire’s expansion."

Nicholas Thomas (2003), states, " It has to be acknowledged, also, that he was in the business of dispossession: he claimed inhabited islands and land right around the Pacific for the Crown."

Thomas also: "Yet when we damn Cook for inaugurating the business of colonization, we are in underlying agreement with traditional Cook idealizers – we are seeing the explorer above all as a founder or precursor…" pp xxxii-xxxiii

In summary, few in the current debate over Cook's legacy are stating that he colonised anything himself. they are stating that he "enabled" British colonisation and imperialism in the South pacific by "claiming possession" of dozens of inhabited places for Britain. Trying to suppress this in the article is ridiculous: it is the dominent view of Cook in recent scholarship and political discussion. The words acedaemics and other commentators use to describe Cook;s role include: "the usher of the colonial land grab – the doorman for British invasion in 1788…" ; "Captain James Cook arrived in the Pacific 250 years ago, triggering British colonisation of the region."; "[We must] confront Cook’s legacy not as the projected shining icon of Enlightenment, but as a mythic presence built on deliberate theft, dispossession and violence." ; "Cook's [1767] voyage has become more controversial, especially in Australia where his discovery and its consequences are now questioned by Aboriginal leaders and by many historians."

Cooman

William Charles Wentworth was prominent in this process, but his proposal for an hereditary upper house was widely ridiculed and not adoped.

Policy on reversions:

• BRD is not a valid excuse for reverting good-faith efforts to improve a page simply because you don't like the changes.
• BRD is never a reason for reverting. Unless the reversion is supported by policies, guidelines or common sense, the reversion is not part of BRD cycle.

Exceptional claims require exceptional sources[edit source]

Shortcuts

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• WP:EXCEPTIONAL
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See also: Sagan standard and Wikipedia:Fringe theories

Any exceptional claim requires multiple high-quality sources. Warnings (red flags) that should prompt extra caution include:

• Surprising or apparently important claims not covered by multiple mainstream sources;
• Challenged claims that are supported purely by primary or self-published sources or those with an apparent conflict of interest;
• Reports of a statement by someone that seems out of character or against an interest they had previously defended;
• Claims contradicted by the prevailing view within the relevant community or that would significantly alter mainstream assumptions—especially in science, medicine, history, politics, and biographies of living and recently dead people. This is especially true when proponents say there is a conspiracy to silence them.

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• Any exceptional claim requires multiple high-quality sources. WP:Exceptional.
• Wikipedia is not a forum for advocating a particular theory. WP:NOTADVOCACY. You might well believe the theory that a man called Cooman was one of the Aboriginal men who confronted Cook, but Wikipedia is not the place to try to prove this. Once it is widely accepted by mainstream historians we can incorporate it into all the relevant articles..

Australia (History)

The states have a general power to make laws except in the few areas where the constitution grants the Commonwealth exclusive powers. The Commonwealth can only make laws on topics listed in the constitution but its laws prevail over those of the states to the extent of any inconsistency.

Treaties and Aboriginal legal rights

Hope you don't mind, but I still have concerns with the wording of this. It is still unclear whether we are only talking about the period 1788-1808 (the period this section covers) or the entire colonial period. Also, the wording isn't accurate because the British did enter into formal agreements with some Aboriginal tribes and leaders (although they didn't sign any treaty) and they did have regard to possible legal rights they might have. Right up to 1837 there was a debate as to whether the Aboriginal tribes were British subjects and subject to English law. In a general article like this it is also important to make the wording as concise as possible with out sacrificing accuracy. So if we want to mention treaties and formal agreements and legal rights, I suggest we write:

"The British did not sign treaties with the Aboriginal peoples and did not recognise native title to their land until 1992." On reflection, I agree that it was significant that no treaties were signed, but the reasons for this are best left to the main articles on Australian history.

I also suggest we change "The colonists also brought diseases such as smallpox, contributing to a huge Indigenous population decline for 150 years" to "The colonists also brought new diseases which contributed to a large fall in the Aboriginal population over 150 years." If fact, there is a huge debate about whether the colonists brought smallpox or whether it originated with Makassar fishermen of the French. There's no doubt they brought diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis and syphilus though.

So I suggest we write: "The British did not sign treaties with the Aboriginal peoples and did not recognise native title to land until 1992. The colonists also brought new diseases which contributed to a large fall in the Aboriginal population over 150 years." I also suggest we put this as the first sentence in the section on Colonial Expansion, because it is more relevant to the discussion of the expansion of European settlement throughout Australia.

Mabo and Indigenous sovereignty

Current

The [Mabo] judgment did not make any findings on sovereignty, finding that the topic was non-justiciable, however campaigns for the recognition of Australian Indigenous sovereignty continue to the present day.

Suggested change:

Delete. The cited source is an opinion piece by one Indigenous lawyer/activist. It does not mention Mabo and in any case the Mabo judgement and the campaign for Indigenous sovereignty are independent of each other. This reads like a political statement shoehorned into a general article about Australia. True, some Indigenous activists advocate Indigenous sovereignty but many others do not and it isn't clear why one current political campaign should be highlighted in the history section of the article. If we want to add a statement about historically significant Indigenous political campaigns I would have thought that land] rights, reconciliation, a truth telling commission and some sort of voice to state and federal parliaments have had a higher profile than Indigenous sovereignty.

Republic referendum

Suggest we return to the previous wording which is accurate and more concise. I understand that you wish to emphasise that it was a particular proposal that was rejected and that there was a preceding debate about various models, but this is a summary article and the nuances are best explained in the main article on the 1999 referendum. Specifically, "failed to pass" are weasel words and it is always a specific proposal that is either accepted or rejected in a referendum.

Indigenous peoples

Old lead sentence:

Indigenous peoples are the earliest known inhabitants of an area and their descendants, especially one that has been colonized by a now-dominant group of settlers. [No source and is flatly contradicted by next source]. However, the term lacks a single, authoritative definition and can be used to describe a variety of peoples and cultures.

In its modern context, the term Indigenous was first used by Europeans, who used it to differentiate the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the European peoples of the Americas, as well as from the sub-Saharan Africans the settlers enslaved and brought to the Americas by force. The term may have first been used in this context by Sir Thomas Browne in 1646, who stated "and although in many parts thereof there be at present swarms of Negroes serving under the Spaniard, yet were they all transported from Africa, since the discovery of Columbus; and are not indigenous or proper natives of America." [This is use of the word Indigenous, not "Indigenous peoples" which has a specific meaning in international law and scholarship. Also this is fom 1646, which is not the modern use of the term. Thirdly, this is a detailed repetition of the article, not a concise summary. It doesn't belong in the lead.]

Peoples are usually described as "Indigenous" when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with the first inhabitants of a given region. Not all Indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language. Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given region (sedentary), exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, or be resettled, but they are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica. There are approximately five thousand Indigenous nations throughout the world. [This is a discursive argument, not a concise summary of the contents of the article. The sources are also selective and dubious, such as a books on herbal medicine. The lecture by an Indigenous rights activist is specifically about the USA. Incidently, the latter author says, "I define indigenous peoples as those who have continued their way of living for thousands of years according to their original instructions." So yet another definition of Indigenous peoples.]

Indigenous peoples' homelands have historically been colonized by larger ethnic groups, who justified colonization with beliefs of racial and religious superiority, land use or economic opportunity. Thousands of Indigenous nations throughout the world currently live in countries where they are not a majority ethnic group. Indigenous peoples continue to face threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being, languages, ways of knowing, and access to the resources on which their cultures depend. Indigenous rights have been set forth in international law by the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank. In 2007, the UN issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) to guide member-state national policies to the collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their rights to protect their cultures, identities, languages, ceremonies, and access to employment, health, education and natural resources. [

Estimates of the total global population of Indigenous peoples usually range from 250 million to 600 million. Official designations and terminology of who is considered Indigenous vary between countries, ethnic groups and other factors. In the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Indigenous status is often applied unproblematically to groups descended from the peoples who lived there prior to European settlement. However, In Asia and Africa, definitions of Indigenous status have been either rejected by certain peoples, or applied to minorities or oppressed peoples who may not be considered "Indigenous" in other contexts. Thus, population figures are less clear and may fluctuate dramatically. The concept of indigenous peoples is rarely used in Europe, where very few indigenous groups are recognized, with the exception of groups such as the Sámi.

There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territory, and an experience of subjugation and discrimination under a dominant cultural model.

Estimates of the population of Indigenous peoples range from 250 million to 600 million. There are some 5,000 distinct Indigenous peoples spread across every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica. Most Indigenous peoples are in a minority in the state or traditional territory they inhabit and have experienced domination by other groups, especially non-Indigenous peoples. Although many Indigenous peoples have experienced colonization by settlers from European nations, Indigenous identity is not determined by Western colonization.

The rights of Indigenous peoples are outlined in national legislation, treaties and international law. The 1989 International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples protects Indigenous peoples from discrimination and specifies their rights to development, customary laws, lands, territories and resources, employment, education and health. In 2007, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples including their rights to self-determination and to protect their cultures, identities, languages, ceremonies, and access to employment, health, education and natural resources.

Indigenous peoples continue to face threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being, languages, cultural heritage, and access to the resources on which their cultures depend. In the 21st century, Indigenous groups and advocates for Indigenous peoples have highlighted numerous apparent violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Deleted, moved or rewritten

Peoples are usually described as "Indigenous" when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with the first inhabitants of a given region. [Deleted because the source does not say "first inhabitants." It deliberately avoids this because it is often impossible to determine who the "first inhabitants" of particular territory were. The relevant criterion is "descent from populations, who inhabited the country or geographical region at the time of conquest, colonisation or establishment of present state boundaries."]

Not all Indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language. Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given region (sedentary), exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, or be resettled, but they are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend. There are approximately five thousand Indigenous nations throughout the world. [Deleted because source has nothing to do with the content.]

Indigenous peoples continue to face threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being, languages, ways of knowing, and access to the resources on which their cultures depend. Indigenous rights have been set forth in international law by the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank. [Deleted because sources are out of date, pre-UNDRIP.]

Definitions

• Self identification as Indigenous peoples
• cultural difference from other groups in a state
• an historical link with those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived, invaded or colonized
• a special relationship with their traditional territory
• a strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources
• an experience of subjugation and discrimination under a dominant cultural model
• marginalized and discriminated against by the state
• distinct social, economic or political systems
• A distinct language, culture and beliefs
• They maintain and develop their ancestral environments and systems as distinct peoples

There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples in the United Nations or international law. Various national and international organizations, non-government organizations, governments, Indigenous groups and scholars have developed definitions or have declined to provide a definition.

Population and distribution

A map of uncontacted peoples, around the start of the 21st century

Estimates of the population of Indigenous peoples range from 250 million to 600 million. The United Nations estimates that there are over 370 million Indigenous people living in over 90 countries worldwide. This would equate to just fewer than 6% of the total world population. This includes at least 5,000 distinct peoples.

As there is no universally accepted definition of Indigenous Peoples, their classification as such varies between countries and organizations. In the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Indigenous status is often applied unproblematically to groups descended from the peoples who lived there prior to European settlement. However, In Asia and Africa, Indigenous status has sometimes been rejected by certain peoples, denied by governments or applied to peoples who may not be considered "Indigenous" in other contexts. The concept of indigenous peoples is rarely used in Europe, where very few indigenous groups are recognized, with the exception of groups such as the Sámi.

Indigenous societies range from those who have been significantly exposed to the colonizing or expansionary activities of other societies (such as the Maya peoples of Mexico and Central America) through to those who as yet remain in comparative isolation from any external influence (such as the Sentinelese and Jarawa of the Andaman Islands).

Contemporary distinct Indigenous groups survive in populations ranging from only a few dozen to hundreds of thousands and more. Many Indigenous populations have undergone a dramatic decline and even extinction, and remain threatened in many parts of the world. Some have also been assimilated by other populations or have undergone many other changes. In other cases, Indigenous populations are undergoing a recovery or expansion in numbers.

Certain Indigenous societies survive even though they may no longer inhabit their "traditional" lands, owing to migration, relocation, forced resettlement or having been supplanted by other cultural groups. In many other respects, the transformation of culture of Indigenous groups is ongoing, and includes permanent loss of language, loss of lands, encroachment on traditional territories, and disruption in traditional ways of life due to contamination and pollution of waters and lands.

Indigenous rights and other issues

The 1989 ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples mainly concerns non-discrimination but also covers indigenous peoples’ rights to development, customary laws, lands, territories and resources, employment, education and health. By 2013, the convention had been ratified by 22 countries, mainly in Latin America.

In 2007, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) specifying the collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their rights to self-determination and to protect their cultures, identities, languages, ceremonies, and access to employment, health, education and natural resources. The declaration is not a formally binding treaty but some provisions might be considered customary international law. The declaration has been endorsed by at least 148 states but its provisions have not been consistently implemented.

Indigenous references

Office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights (2013). "Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Human Rights System, Fact Sheet No. 9/Rev.2" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 1 January 2024.Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2009). "State of the World's Indigenous Peoples, ST/ESA/328" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 1 January 2024.

Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. "Who are Indigenous Peoples?" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 1 January 2024.

National definitions

[Renamed and summarized this because the information was not about national definitions but was a personal essay on the position of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.]

Throughout history, different nations have used a variety of terms to describe the groups within their boundaries that they recognize as Indigenous. Definitions are usually based on a peoples' descent from populations that have historically inhabited the country prior to the time when peoples from non-Indigenous cultures and religions arrived – or at the establishment of present state boundaries – who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains. [This is deleted because it is a personal essay giving one editor's synthesis and interpretations of various sources. It repeats information which has already been presented in summary style.]

The status of the Indigenous groups in the subjugated relationship can be characterized in most instances as an effectively marginalized or isolated group, in comparison to majority groups or the nation-state as a whole. The Indigenous group's ability to influence and participate in the external policies that may exercise jurisdiction over their traditional lands and practices is very frequently limited. This situation can persist even in the case where the Indigenous population outnumbers that of the other inhabitants of the region or state; the defining notion here is one of separation from decision and regulatory processes that have some, at least titular, influence over aspects of their community and land rights. [This is deleted because it is a personal essay giving one editor's synthesis and interpretations of various sources. It repeats information which has already been presented in summary style.]

The presence of external laws, claims and cultural mores either potentially or actually act to variously constrain the practices and observances of an Indigenous society. These constraints can be observed even when the Indigenous society is regulated largely by its own tradition and custom. The constraints may be purposefully imposed, or arise as unintended consequence of trans-cultural interaction. They may have a measurable effect, even where countered by other external influences and actions deemed beneficial or that promote Indigenous rights and interests. [This is deleted because it is a personal essay giving one editor's synthesis and interpretations of various sources. It repeats information which has already been presented in summary style.]

French Revolution

Between 1700 and 1789, the French population grew from an estimated 21 to 28 million, while Paris alone had over 600,000 inhabitants, of whom roughly one third had no regular work. [This is an interesting article, but as far as I can see nowhere on the cited page or in the entire article does it talk about French population growth, the population of Paris or the proportion without regular work.]

The problem lay in the assessment and collection of the taxes used to fund government expenditure. Rates varied widely from one region to another, were often different from the official amounts, and collected inconsistently. Complexity, as much as the financial burden, caused resentment among all taxpayers; although the nobility paid significantly less than other classes, they complained just as much. [This, (Chanel, 2015) is an excellent article, but we already say elsewhere that the tax system was inefficient and complex. The key problem, as the article itself states, is that the tax burden mainly fell on peasants. Nobles and clergy paid much less tax, and they resisted reforms that would make them pay more unless they got real political benefits in return. It's also OR and synthesis to link this article to the previous one because it implies that the "real cause" of the Revolution wasn't debt financing of the War but rather the complexity of the tax system. However, this article explicilty states that the debt crisis was a real problem. It is NOT saying that the problem would have been solved if the tax system was less complex. It also fails to mention that a tax system geared to agriculture failed to pick up the new wealth created in finance and overseas trade. These points are all made in the Financial and Political crisis section. Why have another, distorted, explanation of the financial crisis here?]

To assist delegates, each region completed a list of grievances, known as Cahiers de doléances. Although they contained ideas that would have seemed radical only months before, most supported the monarchy, and assumed the Estates-General would agree to financial reforms, rather than fundamental constitutional change. [Citation is Doyle's Very short history p. 38. It's actually p. 39 and says this: "An amazing range of grievances and aspirations were articulated in what amounted to the first public opinion poll of modern times. Suddenly changes seemed possible that only a few months earlier had been the stuff of dreams; and the tone of the cahiers made clear that many electors actually expected them to happen through the agency of the Estates-General." Nothing about radicalism, support of the monarchy, or fundamental constitutional change. The link is here. ]

Causes

The underlying causes of the French Revolution were the Ancien Régime's inability to manage rising social and economic inequality. [Unsourced]. Population growth and interest payments on government debt led to economic depression, unemployment, and high food prices. [Source, Sargent & Velde, doesn't say this.] Combined with resistance to reform by the ruling elite, it resulted in a crisis Louis XVI proved unable to resolve.

Between 1700 and 1789, the French population grew from an estimated 21 to 28 million, while Paris alone had over 600,000 inhabitants, of whom roughly one third had no regular work. [This is an interesting article, but nowhere on the cited page or in the entire article does it talk about French population growth, the population of Paris or the proportion without regular work.] Food production failed to keep up with these numbers, and whilst wages increased by 22% between 1770 and 1790, prices rose by 65% in the same period, [Source is Hufton 1983. Later research shows this is wrong.] which many blamed on government inaction. [This is true but source doesnt support it. Tilly's quote is from 17th century England.] Combined with a series of poor harvests, by 1789 the result was a rural peasantry with nothing to sell, and an urban proletariat whose purchasing power had collapsed [Source Tilly 1983. Doesnt use term proletariat and is only talking about 1788-89 crisis].

High levels of state debt, which acted as a drag on the wider economy, are often attributed to the 1778–1783 Anglo-French War. However, one economic historian argues "neither [its] level in 1788, or previous history, can be considered an explanation for the outbreak of revolution in 1789". In 1788, the ratio of debt to gross national income in France was 55.6%, compared to 181.8% in Britain, and although French borrowing costs were higher, the percentage of revenue devoted to interest payments was roughly the same in both countries. [Straw man. No modern historian argues that level of debt alone caused revolution.]

The problem lay in the assessment and collection of the taxes used to fund government expenditure. Rates varied widely from one region to another, were often different from the official amounts, and collected inconsistently. Complexity, as much as the financial burden, caused resentment among all taxpayers; although the nobility paid significantly less than other classes, they complained just as much. [This is an excellent article, but we already say elsewhere that the tax system was inefficient and complex. The key problem, as the article itself states, is that the tax burden mainly fell on peasants, that nobles and clergy paid much less tax, and that they resisted reforms that would make them pay more unless they got real political benefits. It's also OR and synthesis to link this article to the previous one because this article explicilty states that the debt crisis was a real problem. It is NOT saying that the problem would have been solved if the tax system was less complex.]

Attempts to simplify the system were blocked by the regional Parlements which controlled financial policy. The resulting impasse in the face of widespread economic distress led to the calling of the Estates-General, which became radicalised by the struggle for control of public finances. [This can be said more succinctly and repeats information in Estates General section below.].

Although willing to consider reforms, Louis XVI often backed down when faced with opposition from conservative elements within the nobility. [Source Doyle 2018 p 48 doesnt say this.] The court became the target for popular anger, particularly Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was viewed as a spendthrift Austrian spy, and blamed for the dismissal of 'progressive' ministers like Jacques Necker. For their opponents [whose opponents? Weasel words], Enlightenment ideas on equality and democracy provided an intellectual framework for dealing with these issues, while the 1774 American Revolution was seen as confirmation of their practical application. [Source Doyle 2018 p. 73-4 has nothing to do with this.]].

Financial crisis

The French state faced a series of budgetary crises during the 18th century, caused primarily by structural deficiencies rather than lack of resources. Unlike Britain, where Parliament determined both expenditures and taxes, in France the Crown controlled spending, but not revenue. National taxes could only be approved by the Estates-General, which had not sat since 1614; its revenue functions had been assumed by regional parlements, the most powerful being the Parlement de Paris (see Map). [THis isn't true. Regional parlements could review new taxes to see if they were compatible with regional rights. If they objected, Crown could impose new taxes through lit de justesse. See Sargent and Velde.]

Although willing to authorise one-time taxes, the parlements were reluctant to pass long-term measures. Collection was outsourced to private individuals, significantly reducing the income received, and so France struggled to service its debt, despite being larger and wealthier than Britain. Following partial default in 1770, within five years the budget had been balanced thanks to reforms instituted by Turgot, the Controller-General of Finances. [Nonsense. It was Terray that balanced Budget through forced tax increases and partial repudiation of debt.] However, he was dismissed in May 1776 after arguing France could not afford to intervene in the American Revolutionary War. [The source is White (1995). it doesn't say any of this.]

These costs grew substantially when France formally declared war on Britain in 1778. Necker, who had become Finance Minister in 1777, managed to cover them with loans rather than taxes, before being replaced in 1781 by Charles Alexandre de Calonne. These loans were funded by a large rentier class who lived on the interest payments. By 1785 the government was struggling to cover them, which left new taxes as the only viable alternative. When the parlements refused to approve them, [no they didn't, Calonne went straight to Notables] Calonne persuaded Louis to summon the Assembly of Notables, an advisory council dominated by the upper nobility. When it met in February 1787, headed by de Brienne, a former archbishop of Toulouse, the Assembly argued taxes could only be authorised by the Estates.

De Brienne, who succeeded Calonne in May 1787, tried to address the budgetary impasse without raising taxes by devaluing the coinage instead. This caused runaway inflation, worsening the plight of the farmers and urban poor. [Nonsense. Source is a 1957 book by a nobody.]. By 1788, total state debt had increased to an unprecedented 4.5 billion livres. In a last attempt to resolve the crisis, Necker returned as Finance Minister in August 1788 but was unable to reach an agreement on how to increase revenue. In May 1789, Louis summoned the Estates-General. [Citations are all old general histories. This can be rationalised]

Estates-General of 1789

Main article: Estates General of 1789 in France

The Estates-General contained three separate bodies, the First Estate representing 100,000 clergy, the Second the nobility, and the Third the "commons". Since each met separately, and any proposals had to be approved by at least two, the First and Second Estates could outvote the Third despite representing less than 5% of the population.

Although the Catholic Church in France owned nearly 10% of all land, as well as receiving annual tithes paid by peasants, more than two-thirds of the clergy lived on incomes putting them close to the poverty line [Source Schama. Doesn't say this.] Many of the 303 deputies returned in 1789 were thus closer in sympathy to the poor than those elected for the Third Estate, where voting was restricted to male French taxpayers, aged 25 or over. The vast majority of the 610 Third Estate deputies were lawyers, government officials, businessmen, or wealthy land owners. [Source Doyle, doesn't say this.]

The Second Estate elected 291 deputies, representing about 400,000 men and women, who owned about 25% of the land and collected seigneurial dues and rents from their tenants. Like the clergy, this was not a uniform body, and was divided into the noblesse d'épée, or traditional aristocracy, and the noblesse de robe. The latter derived rank from judicial or administrative posts and tended to be hard-working professionals, who dominated the regional parlements and were often intensely socially conservative. [source Schama doesn't say this.]

To assist delegates, each region completed a list of grievances, known as Cahiers de doléances. Although they contained ideas that would have seemed radical only months before, most supported the monarchy, and assumed the Estates-General would agree to financial reforms, rather than fundamental constitutional change. [Grammar. A cahier can't think or assume anything. Source is Doyle's Very short history.] The lifting of press censorship allowed widespread distribution of political writings, mostly written by liberal members of the aristocracy and upper middle-class. Abbé Sieyès, a political theorist and priest elected to the Third Estate, argued it should take precedence over the other two as it represented 95% of the population.

On 5 May 1789, the Estates-General convened at Versailles, a location seen as an attempt to control their debates. [Says who?] As was customary, each Estate assembled in separate rooms, whose furnishings and opening ceremonies deliberately emphasised the superiority of the First and Second Estates. The Second Estate ruled only landowners could sit as deputies, excluding the immensely popular Comte de Mirabeau. [Source is Schama. Doesn't say this. It was the local Estate of Provence that had this rule. Mirabeau was elected as a rep of the Third Estate for Aix.]

To prevent the Third Estate being outvoted, Sieyès proposed deputies be approved by the Estates-General as a whole, instead of each Estate verifying its own. [It wasn't Sieyes who proposed this, it was the reps from Brittany and the Dauphiné. See Doyle p. 102] Since their legitimacy would derive from the Estates-General, they would be forced to continue as one body. Sitting as the Estates-General, on 10 June members of the Third Estate began verifying their own deputies, a process completed on 17 June. [No they didn't. They began verifying the members of the Third Estate on 12 June. On 17 June they declared themselves a National Assembly. per Doyle. 103-105] Two days later, they were joined by over 100 members of the clergy, [This true. Scharma p. 355] and declared themselves the National Assembly. The remaining deputies from the other two Estates were invited to join, but the Assembly made it clear they intended to legislate with or without their support.

In an attempt to prevent the Assembly from convening, Louis XVI closed the Salle des États, claiming he needed it for a royal speech. [Unsourced and untrue.] On 20 June, the Assembly met in a tennis court outside Versailles, and swore not to disperse until a new constitution had been agreed. [This is true. Schama p. 359.] Messages of support poured in from Paris and other cities; by 27 June, they had been joined by the majority of the First Estate, plus forty-seven members of the Second, and Louis backed down. [No he didnt. He offered some concessions but ordered the Estates General to meet in their separate orders the next day. Schama p. 362]

References

Andress, David (2015). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Clay, Lauren (2015). "The Bourgoisie, Capitalism and the Origins of the French Revolution". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Doyle, William (2018). The Oxford History of the French Revolution (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198804932.

Jessene, Jean-Pierre (2013). "The Social and Economic Crisis in France at the End of the Ancien Régime". In McPhee, Peter (ed.). A Companion to the French Revolution. Oxford: John Wley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-3564-4.

Jourdan, Annie (2015). "Tumultuous contexts and radical ideas (1783-89). The 'pre-revolution' in a transnational context.". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

McPhee, Peter, ed. (2013). A Companion to the French Revolution. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1444335644.

Marzagalli, Sylvia (2015). "Economic and Demographic Developments". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Smith, Jay M. (2015). "Nobility". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Burrows, Simon (2015). "Books, philosophy, Englightenment". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Sade references

Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de (1965). Seaver, Richard; Wainhouse, Austryn (eds.). The Complete Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom and other writings. Grove Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de (2000). Seaver, Richard (ed.). Letters from Prison. London: Harvill Press. ISBN 1-86046-807-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Indigenous peoples references

Martínez Cobo, José. 1986/7. “Study of the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations”. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7 and Add. 1-4. Available online at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/second.html.

Muckle, >:>Robert J. (2012). Indigenous Peoples of North America: A Concise Anthropological Overview. University of Toronto Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4426-0416-2.

NSW Economy

Main article: Economy of New South Wales

NSW is the largest state economy in Australia, with service industries contributing almost 80% of the state's economic activity and 90% of its employment. Business services which includes financial services; professional, scientific and technical services; property services; information media; and telecommunications, account for nearly a third of the state economy. Major merchandise exports include coal, copper, beef and aluminium. In recent years there has been strong growth in exports of education, tourism, and financial and business services.

Construction accounted for 8% of the NSW economy in 2020-21, while manufacturing contributed 6%, mining 2%, and agriculture, forestry and fishing just under 2%.

Coal and related products are the state's biggest merchandise export. Its value to the state's economy is over A$5 billion, accounting for about 19% of all merchandise exports from NSW. Tourism is worth over $18.1 billion to the New South Wales economy and employs 3.1% of the workforce.

Agriculture

See also: Agriculture in Australia

Agriculture accounts for just under 2% of the NSW economy. NSW has the second-highest value of agricultural production of the Australian states. Wheat is the most extensive crop in the state by hectare amounting to 39% of the continent's harvest. The most important wheat-growing areas are the Central West, Orana, New England, North-West and Riverina.

Barley, cotton and canola are also important broadacre crops. Most cotton production is in the New England, Orana, North West and Far West regions. However, the southern regions of the state now produce almost one-third of the state's crop by value.

NSW produces about 20% of Australia's fruit and nuts, and about 12% of its vegetables by value. On the central slopes there are many orchards, with the principal fruits grown being apples, cherries and pears. About 40,200 hectares (99,000 acres) of vineyards lie across the eastern region of the state, with the Hunter Valley and the Riverina being major wine producing regions.

Cattle, sheep and pigs are the predominant types of livestock produced in NSW. The state over one-third of the country's sheep, and one-fifth of its cattle and pigs. Australia's largest and most valuable Thoroughbred horse breeding area is centred on Scone in the Hunter Valley.

Transport

Main article: Transport in New South Wales

Passage through New South Wales is vital for cross-continent transport. Rail and road traffic from Brisbane (Queensland) to Perth (Western Australia), or to Melbourne (Victoria) must pass through New South Wales.

History

Main article: History of Sydney

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Sydney.

First inhabitants of the region

Charcoal drawing of kangaroos in Heathcote National Park

The first people to inhabit the area now known as Sydney were Indigenous Australians who had migrated from northern Australia and before that from southeast Asia. Flaked pebbles found in Western Sydney's gravel sediments might indicate human occupation from 45,000 to 50,000 years BP, while radiocarbon dating has shown evidence of human activity in the Sydney region from around 30,000 years ago. Prior to the arrival of the British, there were 4,000 to 8,000 Indigenous people in the greater Sydney region.

The inhabitants subsisted on fishing, hunting, and gathering plant foods and shellfish. The diet of the coastal clans was more reliant on seafoods whereas the food of hinterland clans was more focused on forest animals and plants. The clans had distinctive sets of equipment and weapons mostly made of stone, wood, plant materials, bone and shell. They also differed in their body decorations, hairstyles, songs and dances. Indigenous clans had a rich ceremonial life which was part of a belief system centering on ancestral, totemic and supernatural beings. People from different clans and language groups came together to participate in initiation and other ceremonies. These occasions fostered trade, marriages and clan alliances.

The earliest British settlers recorded the word 'Eora' as an Indigenous term meaning either 'people' or 'from this place'. The clans of the Sydney area occupied land with traditional boundaries. There is debate, however, about which group or nation these clans belonged to, and the extent of differences in language, dialect and initiation rites. The major groups were the coastal Eora people, the Dharug (Darug) occupying the inland area from Parramatta to the Blue Mountains, and the Dharawal people south of Botany Bay. The Darginung and Gundungurra languages were spoken on the fringes of the Sydney area.

Indigenous clans of Sydney area, as recorded by early British settlers

Clan	Territory name	Location
Bediagal	Not recorded	Probably north-west of Parramatta
Boolbainora	Boolbainmatta	Parramatta area
Borogegal	Booragy	Probably Bradleys Head and surrounding area
Boromedegal	Not recorded	Parramatta
Buruberongal	Not recorded	North-west of Parramatta
Darramurragal	Not recorded	Turramarra area
Gadigal	Cadi	South side of Port Jackson, from South Head to Darling Harbour
Gahbrogal	Not recorded	Liverpool and Cabramatta area
Gamaragal	Cammeray	North shore of Port Jackson
Gameygal	Kamay	Botany Bay
Gannemegal	Warmul	Parramatta area
Garigal	Not recorded	Broken Bay area
Gayamaygal	Kayeemy	Manly Cove
Gweagal	Gwea	Southern shore of Botany Bay
Wallumedegal	Wallumede	North shore of Port Jackson, opposite Sydney Cove
Wangal	Wann	South side of Port Jackson, from Darling Harbour to Rose Hill

Clans known to be of the Sydney region but whose territory wasn't reliably recorded are the Birrabirragal, Domaragal, Doogagal, Gannalgal, Gomerigal, Gooneeowlgal, Goorunggurregal, Gorualgal, Murrooredial, Noronggerragal, Oryangsoora and Wandeandegal.

The first meeting between Aboriginals and British explorers occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay (Kamay) and encountered the Gweagal clan. Two Gweagal men opposed the landing party and in the confrontation one of them was shot and wounded. Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Indigenous population without success.

Cook then proceeded north, mapping the eastern coast of the continent and claiming the coastline that he had explored as British territory, naming it New South Wales.

Colonial city (1841-1900)

The New South Wales Legislative Council was transformed into a semi-elected body in 1842. The town of Sydney was declared a city the same year, and a governing council established, elected on a restrictive property franchise.

The discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851 initially caused some economic disruption as male workers moved to the goldfields. Melbourne soon overtook Sydney as Australia's largest city, leading to an enduring rivalry between the two cities. However, increased immigration from overseas and wealth from gold exports increased demand for housing, consumer goods, services and urban amenities. The New South Wales government also stimulated growth by investing heavily in railways, trams, roads, ports, telegraph, schools and urban services. The population of Sydney and its suburbs grew from 95,600 in 1861 to 386,900 in 1891. The city developed many of its characteristic features. The growing population packed into rows of terrace houses in narrow streets. New public buildings of sandstone abounded, including at the University of Sydney (1854-61), the Australian Museum (1858-66), the Town Hall (1868-88), and the General Post Office (1866-92). Elaborate coffee palaces and hotels were erected. Exotic plants such as jacarandas and frangipani were introduced in parks and gardens. Daylight bathing at Sydney's beaches was banned, but segregated bathing at designated ocean baths was popular.

Drought, the winding down of public works and a financial crisis led to economic depression in Sydney throughout most of the 1890s. Meanwhile, the Sydney-based premier of New South Wales, George Reid, became a key figure in the process of federation.

Sydney Political development

Development of Sydney. Links to interior. 1840s. Horses were the main form of transport. Trains coming. (Kingston pp. 38-42). First elections were for alderman for Sydney municipality.

The first five governors had near autocratic power in the colony of New South Wales, subject only to the laws of England and the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. Sydney was the seat of government for the colony which encompassed over half the Australian continent and offshore islands. Governor Thomas Brisbane (1821–25) moved his official residence to Parramatta, but the seat of government returned to Sydney on his departure.

The New South Wales Judicature Act of 1823 limited the powers of the governors by establishing a Legislative Council and a court structure presided over by a chief justice. The members of the Legislative Council were to be nominated by the governor, but a majority of the council could refer legislation to the chief justice for an opinion on its legality. The first Legislative Council was summoned by Governor Ralph Darling in 1826. The northern wing of Macquarie Street's's Rum Hospital was requisitioned and converted to accommodate the first Parliament House in 1829.

The passing of the Sydney Incorporation Act in 1842 officially recognised the town of Sydney as a city, enabled the taxation of property owners and occupiers, and imposed a managerial structure to its administration. Men who possessed property valued at £1000 (or £50 per year) were able to stand for election. Every adult male over 21 years who occupied a "house warehouse counting-house or shop" valued at £25 per year was permitted to vote in one of four wards – this amounted to only around 15% of the adult population. Plural voting was prohibited by the enabling legislation.

The Sydney Corporation had limited powers, mostly relating to services such as street lighting and drainage. Its boundaries were restricted to an area of 11.6 square kilometres, taking in the city centre and the modern suburbs of Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills, Chippendale, and Pyrmont. The boundaries were to remain fairly constant until the twentieth century.

In 1842 the imperial parliament granted limited representative government to NSW by establishing a reformed Legislative Council with one-third of its members appointed by the governor and two-thirds elected by male voters who met a property qualification. The property qualification meant that only 20 per cent of males were eligible to vote in the first Legislative Council elections in 1843.

Elections to the Legislative Council gave a political voice to members from the Port Philip District who resented rule from Sydney and wished to form their own colony. The imperial parliament passed legislation allowing for the separation in 1850, and the former Port Phillip District became the Colony of Victoria in July 1851, significantly reducing the political power of Sydney.

In 1856 New South Wales achieved responsible government with the introduction of a bicameral parliament comprising a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a nominated Legislative Council. The property qualification for voters had been reduced in 1851, and by 1856 the inflation of property values resulting from the goldrush meant that 95 per cent of adult males in Sydney were eligible to vote. The large workingmen's vote gave Sydney a reputation for radicalism which was only balanced by the overrepresentation of rural electorates. Full adult male suffrage was introduced in 1858.

In 1859 Queensland became a separate colony, but the political power of Sydney only grew in the following decades as it became more dominant as a centre of population and government in the expanding economy of NSW. In the 1860s Sydney accounted for only one-sixth of the NSW population; by 1891, Sydney was larger than the total for all other towns in the colony.

Governance

The first five governors had near autocratic power in the colony of New South Wales, subject only to the laws of England and the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. Sydney was the seat of government for the colony which encompassed over half the Australian continent. The first Legislative Council was summoned in 1826, and in 1842 the imperial parliament expanded and reformed the council, making it partly elected. In the same year, the town of Sydney officially became a city and an elected municipal council was establshed. The council had limited powers, mostly relating to services such as street lighting and drainage. Its boundaries were restricted to an area of 11.6 square kilometres, taking in the city centre and the modern suburbs of Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills, Chippendale, and Pyrmont. As Sydney grew, other municipal councils were formed to provide local administration.

In 1856 New South Wales achieved responsible government with the introduction of a bicameral parliament, based in Sydney, comprising a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a nominated Legislative Council. With the Federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, Sydney became the capital of the states of New South Wales and its administration was divided between the Commonwealth, State and constituent local governments.

History of Australia (1788-1850)

After several years of privation, the penal colony gradually expanded and developed an economy based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade with incoming ships, and construction using convict labour. By 1820, however, British settlement was largely confined to a 100 kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's land. From 1816 penal transportation to Australia increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. Van Diemen's Land became a separate colony in 1825, and free settlements were established at the Swan River in Western Australia (1829), Adelaide in South Australia (1836), and in the Port Philip District (1836). The grazing of cattle and sheep expanded inland, leading to increasing conflict with Aboriginal people on their traditional lands.

The growing population of free settlers, former convicts and Australian-born currency lads and lasses led to public demands for representative government. Penal transportation to New South Wales ended in 1840 and a semi-elected Legislative Council was established in 1842. In 1850 Britain granted Van Diemen's Land, South Australia and the newly-created colony of Victoria semi-representative Legislative Councils on the New South Wales model.

British settlement led to a decline in the Aboriginal population and the disruption of their cultures due to introduced diseases, violent conflict and dispossession of their traditional lands. Aboriginal resistance to British encroachment on their land often led to violent reprisals from settlers including massacres of Aboriginal people. Many Aboriginal people, however, sought an accommodation with the settlers and established viable communities on missions, cattle stations and the fringes of towns where many aspects of their tradition cultures were maintained.