Thomas Bernhard combined a searing wit and an unwavering gaze into the human condition. His debut novel, "Frost, " marked the beginning of one of the century's most provocative literary careers. Visceral, raw, singular, and unforgettable, "Frost "is the story of a friendship between a young man beginning his medical career and a painter in his final days. The youth has accepted an unusual assignment, to travel to a miserable mining town in the middle of nowhere in order to clinically--and secretly--observe and report on his mentor's reclusive brother, the painter Strauch. Carefully disguising himself as a law student with a love of Henry James, he befriends the aging artist and attempts to carry out his mission, only to find himself caught up in his subject's apparent madness.