Extinction was published in 1986 and was the last novel published by Thomas Bernhard before his death in 1989.
Bernhard was born out of wedlock in the Netherlands in 1931. He was left to live with his grandparents for six years until his mother, who had been working as a maid, married and moved him to Bavaria. His father was a carpenter and petty criminal who refused to acknowledge Bernhard, and who Bernard himself never met. Bernhard's feelings of abandonment would inform his later work.
While living in Germany, Bernhard was forced to join a branch of the Hitler Youth. He loathed the experience and would later be termed a Nestbeschmutzer (one who dirties his own nest) for his harsh criticisms of Austria's Nazi past. Extinction reflects Berhard's disdain for Nazism, Catholicism, and art's role in self-absolution.
Non-familial relationships play a significant role in Extinction and played a significant role in Bernhard's own life as well. He worked with the same publisher, Siegfried Unseld, from 1961 to his death, and in 2009, their correspondence– about 500 letters in total – was published in German. Director Claus Peymann was responsible for the theatrical productions of many of Bernhard's works, including the extremely controversial Heldenplatz (1988). Furthermore, Bernhard had a close (although not sexual or romantic) relationship with Hedwig Stavianicek, a much older woman who supported Bernhard's work and whom he cared for in her dying days. Bernhard considered her his Lebensmensch, i.e., the most important person in his life.
A final factor which influenced Bernhard's later works and their pessimistic tones was his chronic respiratory illness and contraction of tuberculosis. He spent the years 1949 to 1951 in a sanatorium and his condition ended up putting an end to his music and acting careers. He needed near constant care for his incurable illness starting about a decade before his death, which caused him to view death as the "ultimate essence of existence." In 1989, he passed away by assisted suicide. His will prohibited any new stagings of his plays and publication of his unpublished work in Austria, although this was later annulled by his heir.
