Christian, I found it really exciting to witness that improvised conversation between Bernhard and Hemingway in Cuba. Werner, our outstanding Burgtheater performer, translated everything. Hemingway was upset and called almost the whole thing off because Bernhard couldn’t stop laughing while Hem was explaining the importance of detailed descriptions in a good novel.
As you can see, with *Faserland* you’ve already made it into the upper spheres of the literary scene and realized that even the people up there are only as normal as the rest of us. I can imagine you’ve had to deal with a disappointment or two from your former idols, just as I did after my visit with Hemingway.
Back then, just hearing him show off about his 300-horsepower motorboat should have been enough to make us pack up and fly on to New York the very next day. At least, that's what I thought at the time. But today, I see things differently. Without Hemingway, the literary world would be a very different, and much poorer, one. Bernhard and Werner said the same, too.