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this is one reason why Sontag considered him (a few years prior to her death) the greatest living writer... |
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The Emigrants by W. G. Sebald
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Published to enormous critical acclaim in the US and sold out immediately in its first hardcover edition, The Emigrants has been acclaimed as "one of the best novels to appear since World War II" (Review of Contemporary Fiction) and three times chosen as the1996 International Book of the Year. The poignant and acclaimed novel about the beauty of lost things, while the protagonist traces the lives of four elderly German/Jewish exiles. The Emigrants is composed of four long narratives which at ... read more
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Sebald masters the voice of place and memory, the items and objects and landscapes that make both, and displacement and forgetting-- as if Gaston Batchelard was writing fiction. This is not a novel about Jews leaving Europe, it is a story about what they struggle to retain of their selves, their placedness and their relationships after they have been condemned to another era of exile and wandering. |
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This book is unexplainable. It is pure fiction read as historiography. The level of creativity and mastery required to pull this off is incalculable. For this alone it is worth the price of admission. The stories themselves? Subtle, melancholy, rich. |
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Just finished this. A unique reading experience that is different from other books of this nature. Had to explain the narrative structure, and that is part of the beauty of the book. Enriching and satiisfying. |
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Not to sound pretentious, but it loses a bit in translation. Personally I'd put Sebald up there with Goethe as a reason to learn German. |
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I was drawn by the pseudo-science, but ended up lending this out without reading the last 20 pages- to someone who doesn't read english too well. Some fun moments. |
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really quite lovely little book. feels like a walk through the woods along a gentle stream, which is sometimes at odds with the subject matter at hand (or at least in the background), making it all the more intriguing. reminiscent of proust though perhaps more precise and less windy. |
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a story about memory, shadows, depression, images, obsession, and loss. The translation was elegant and read easily. |
