Austerlitz
by W. G. Sebald | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 9780375756566 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 9780375756566 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
First published 2001. Translated by Anthea Bell.
This novel begins with a chance encounter between its unnamed narrator and the eponymous Austerlitz in a railway station in Antwerp. Their ensuing discussion, focusing on the relationship between architecture and historical time, lasts for several hours, and then is rejoined as the two men meet up repeatedly, and always by chance, over a number of years. Their relationship remains cold and distant, until Austerlitz decides to tell the narrator his life story, a story which he is still in the process of remembering. Austerlitz has been brought up as Daffyd Elias by an austere Welsh minister and his wife, and kept in total ignorance of his real name and early childhood living with his biological family in Prague. He was evacuated to Wales before the Second World War, where his amnesiac, dislocated life as Daffyd Elias began.
The novel follows Austerlitz’s attempt to penetrate the depths of his memory, seeking, like Austerlitz himself, to reclaim a time lost in the shadows of the Second World War — a time made inaccessible by the unspeakable horrors of Nazism. The narrative style performs with an uncanny fidelity the process of remembering, of delving into the darkness of repressed personal and cultural memory. It is written in long sentences that act like delicate word bridges reaching into the gloom, offering a magical insight into the dark heart of the twentieth century, bringing hidden historical material into the light. To read the novel is to experience the regaining of time. — Dr. Peter Boxall in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
This novel begins with a chance encounter between its unnamed narrator and the eponymous Austerlitz in a railway station in Antwerp. Their ensuing discussion, focusing on the relationship between architecture and historical time, lasts for several hours, and then is rejoined as the two men meet up repeatedly, and always by chance, over a number of years. Their relationship remains cold and distant, until Austerlitz decides to tell the narrator his life story, a story which he is still in the process of remembering. Austerlitz has been brought up as Daffyd Elias by an austere Welsh minister and his wife, and kept in total ignorance of his real name and early childhood living with his biological family in Prague. He was evacuated to Wales before the Second World War, where his amnesiac, dislocated life as Daffyd Elias began.
The novel follows Austerlitz’s attempt to penetrate the depths of his memory, seeking, like Austerlitz himself, to reclaim a time lost in the shadows of the Second World War — a time made inaccessible by the unspeakable horrors of Nazism. The narrative style performs with an uncanny fidelity the process of remembering, of delving into the darkness of repressed personal and cultural memory. It is written in long sentences that act like delicate word bridges reaching into the gloom, offering a magical insight into the dark heart of the twentieth century, bringing hidden historical material into the light. To read the novel is to experience the regaining of time. — Dr. Peter Boxall in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Journal Entry 2 by Vasha at The Shop, 312 E Seneca St in Ithaca, New York USA on Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Released 14 yrs ago (3/9/2010 UTC) at The Shop, 312 E Seneca St in Ithaca, New York USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
On the bookshelf at the back.
On the bookshelf at the back.
Removed from shelf, since it's been there so long.
Thanks so much for your donation Vasha!
This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.
