W. G. Sebald - C or D?

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i read maybe four of his books in the space of two or three months, and i enjoyed them, but i wasn't overwhelmed by them

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought Austerlitz was quite moving and powerful and unlike any other writer I can think of. He has a very poetic way of describing mental states and processes - reminds us that the mind can be a mysterious landscape all on its own. But so far, Vertigo seems like an early attempt at the same effect - where he hadn't quite polished his style to perfection. Many of the same stylistic tics are present, but where in Austerlitz they seem to flow naturally, in Vertigo they seem to stick out - almost like a cookie dough which hasn't been mixed thoroughly enough and still has clumps of baking soda in it. Also, in Vertigo, the geographic names and Italian quotations come fast and thick - a map and maybe footnotes with translations would be quite helpful.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:26 (nineteen years ago) link

i don't remember quotations in italian--i wonder if they were translated for different editions? i do recall very brief quotes in french and latin and german in one or another of his books.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 21:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I think "Vertigo" was prob intended to be a bit discontinuous/orienting, it's good "tho"

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 14 January 2005 05:36 (nineteen years ago) link

rings of saturn is something i can return to any time. any page.

― noizem duke (noize duke), Friday, 14 January 2005 09:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I've only read The Emigrants. I really enjoyed the first two sections; the third, a bit less; the fourth dragged. This may say more about my reading habits than the work. I think Sebald has a unique voice - remote but affecting - I wouldn't say intimate because the reader isn't a party to the intimacy, only knows it's there. What's unique, I think, is in his re-imagining life - making life into a documentary, which is a work of art. I complained about the photographs before, but the truth-telling approach is wrong. Even photos in family albums have passed on to legend. The first section makes me want to live in Norfolk and find apple trees and sit in a chair in a garden. Or snow, snow! Think of all the drama in Shelley, but recreate that in a murmur.

― youn, Friday, 14 January 2005 10:13 (nineteen years ago) link

I found Austerlitz desperately dull. Sorry.

― Mog, Friday, 14 January 2005 11:00 (nineteen years ago) link

It wasn't really a cat's book, I guess.

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 14 January 2005 12:29 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

the emigrants is so good

― max, Saturday, 24 May 2008 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link

the best

― s1ocki, Saturday, 24 May 2008 16:11 (sixteen years ago) link

It's all great. He was damn fine.

― Ned Trifle II, Saturday, 24 May 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link

one year passes...

i'm trying to dig up susan sontag's quote about the tragedy of his early death. does anyone recall it? having a hard time with google.

― canks: for the memories (s1ocki), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link

http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/sebaldsympos_sp02.html.
Don't know if this is what you're looking for, but Sontag is the second one down.

― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:51 (fourteen years ago) link

yes that's it, thank you

― canks: for the memories (s1ocki), Tuesday, 14 July 2009 16:07 (fourteen years ago) link

two years pass...

has anyone seen Grant Gee's Patience (After Sebald) yet? Thinking about going to a screening of it tomorrow.

― michael nyman cat (Merdeyeux), Monday, 16 April 2012 03:24 (twelve years ago) link

six years pass...

earlier this year visited the site of the verona pizza place where, overtaken by misery, the narrator of vertigo fails to finish a bad pizza. is now an asian fusion restaurant and the greeter was very confused by me taking photos.

― devvvine, Sunday, 28 October 2018 12:07 (five years ago) link

nine months pass...

https://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/wgs.jpg

― jmm, Sunday, 28 July 2019 15:25 (four years ago) link

classic

― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 28 July 2019 15:46 (four years ago) link

eight months pass...

is now an asian fusion restaurant and the greeter was very confused by me taking photos.

― devvvine, Sunday, October 28, 2018 7:07 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

was it still blue and decorated with maritime imagery ?

― budo jeru, Sunday, 29 March 2020 02:19 (four years ago) link

i did not go in but, judging from the exterior, i expect not

https://instagram.flhr6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/e35/34982366_243103512949487_8840548729745309696_n.jpg?_nc_ht=instagram.flhr6-1.fna.fbcdn.net&_nc_cat=111&_nc_ohc=QG9UbbedasAAX9C0Za0&oh=7253a61757c50ff02e64882d624af639&oe=5EA9D351

― devvvine, Sunday, 29 March 2020 13:11 (four years ago) link

three years pass...

i'm almost finished with "the rings of saturn", which i'm finally reading i guess 12 years after my college girlfriend first recommended it to me and made me aware of WGS. it's great.

― budo jeru, Saturday, 10 June 2023 14:57 (one year ago) link

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