There was construction going on down there on such a scale that you couldn't say "how it was possible." The engineer had told him some numbers. Dates. Dimensions. "Staggering," said the painter. "Over a thousand workmen are crawling around like ants down there." And indirectly the work would occupy and pay the wages of tens, of hundreds of thousands. "The money invested here goes into billions." The state knew how to exploit its sources , and apply its science. It was "glorious." But down there, "and not just down there either, there is a development in progress that will turn everything upside down." Technology was continually revolutionizing itself. "Come on," he said, "let's step outside. Perhaps we'll be able to see something."
We went outside. But there was nothing to be seen but a thickening pall of gray in front of our eyes. "I want to see the funeral today, from my vantage point over the pass," he said. "They're burying the grocer."
"Frost"
Thomas Bernhard 1963
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