TEHRAN-The Persian translation of the play “Heroes' Square,” (also known as “Heldenplatz”) written by the Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard has been released in the Iranian book market.

Raybod Publication has brought out the book that has been translated into Persian by Hadi Mortazavi, Mehr reported.

The 1988 stage drama was the final play written by Bernhard and sparked one of the biggest theater scandals in the history of post-war Austria.

“Heroes' Square” was commissioned by Claus Peymann, director of the Viennese Burgtheater, to be performed for the 100th anniversary of the theater's opening. The year also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Anschluss when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Heldenplatz is the square where Adolph Hitler was greeted on March 15, 1938, and he addressed thousands of jubilant Austrians.

Bernhard wrote his play as a tragic reflection on the obsessive politics of nationalism, the denial of the past, and the continued anti-Semitism within modern Austria. Although the play was to be published only after the premiere, selected extracts were leaked to the press in the days prior to the first performance. The quotations, taken out of context, caused a public uproar and Bernhard was vilified. 

The play was also understood as a veiled attack on the election of Austria's president Kurt Waldheim who called it “an insult to the Austrian people.” Demonstrations were held and Bernhard, in one instance, was physically assaulted.

The play begins on the day of the funeral of Josef Schuster, a Jewish university professor. Through the three-act play, his wife Hedwig Schuster, their children, Olga, Anna, and Luka, his brother, Robert Schuster, Mrs. Zittel, the housekeeper,r and Herta, the maid, discuss Josef. 

It is revealed that 50 years after March 15, 1938, Josef could no longer bear the clamor that always resonated in his head. The couple had decided to return to Oxford where they had lived for 10 years in exile before returning to Vienna for the love of music. A few days before their departure, considering that now everything is worse than 50 years ago and that there are now more Nazis in Vienna than in 1938, Joseph Schuster commits suicide by throwing himself out the window of their apartment overlooking Heldenplatz. The play includes a line about a nation of 6.5 million idiots living in a country that is rotting away, falling apart, run by the political parties in an unholy alliance with the Catholic Church.

Bernhard, through his characters, critiques the persistent antisemitism in Austria, lamenting how he could not listen to Beethoven without thinking of Nuremberg and expressing his disbelief that the Austrians after the war would be much more hateful and anti-Semitic than before the war.

Thomas Bernhard (1931-1989) was an Austrian writer who ranks among the most distinguished German-speaking writers of the second half of the 20th century.

Although internationally he's most acclaimed because of his novels, he was also a prolific playwright. His characters are often at work on a lifetime and never-ending major project while they deal with themes such as suicide, madness and obsession, and, as Bernhard did, a love-hate relationship with Austria. His prose is tumultuous but sober at the same time, philosophic by turns, with a musical cadence and plenty of black humor.