I've always found it interesting how big the disparity was between Sebald's recognition in Germany and elsewhere in the world. Great interview in any case.
I've always found it interesting how big the disparity was between Sebald's recognition in Germany and elsewhere in the world.
Great interview in any case.
Yes, exactly. He won one literary prize in Germany out of dozens every year and he was never made a professor here either. As for general recognition: I find his books readily available in...
Yes, exactly. He won one literary prize in Germany out of dozens every year and he was never made a professor here either. As for general recognition: I find his books readily available in bookshops in France and the UK, but rarely in Germany. I am not sure about the translations, but I will admit that he is a really tough read in German...
But I also suspect that Sebald himself was quite fine with being on the periphery of German cultural life.
Oh wow, interesting. I guess it speaks to some of his own comments re-the state of postwar German literature (or lack thereof) that seriously reflects postwar German consciousness. In the...
Oh wow, interesting. I guess it speaks to some of his own comments re-the state of postwar German literature (or lack thereof) that seriously reflects postwar German consciousness.
In the interview he also singles out Thomas Bernhard as a 'rare' author who goes against the grain. And then in the Foreword to A Natural History of Destruction he basically says that even supposedly contrarian authors obediently towed the Nazi line during the War, and were clearly interested in sanitising their own image after the War.
I'm currently reading The Rings of Saturn (English). I can read a bit of German but nowhere near good enough to read novels, let alone Sebald. Also got my hands on A Natural History of Destruction, but unlikely that I'll be reading beyond the Foreword, as I've got a long list of to-reads!
Yes, I think it was also in the Silverblatt interview that he explains how he just had to leave Germany at some point, because he couldn't bear how no one wanted to talk about what had happened...
Yes, I think it was also in the Silverblatt interview that he explains how he just had to leave Germany at some point, because he couldn't bear how no one wanted to talk about what had happened between '33 and '45.
I hear particularly the English translations are very good and faithful, because he worked very closely with the translator. Hopefully they agreed to cut some sentences in half...
If you want to read further after Rings, The Emigrants is also a very sebaldian book. I find his texts to take quite some time to digest - so they are nicely compatible with a long reading list ;-)
Yep, I have to keep reminding myself that the English works are translations, not the original. But still they're spectacular, and no long sentences (yet). Cheers for the rec! I think The...
Yep, I have to keep reminding myself that the English works are translations, not the original. But still they're spectacular, and no long sentences (yet).
Cheers for the rec! I think The Emigrants, Austerlitz and The Natural History of Destruction are all going on my list :)
I've always found it interesting how big the disparity was between Sebald's recognition in Germany and elsewhere in the world.
Great interview in any case.
You mean he wasn't popular in Germany? Or vice versa? I'm just getting into him, so not as informed myself.
Yes, exactly. He won one literary prize in Germany out of dozens every year and he was never made a professor here either. As for general recognition: I find his books readily available in bookshops in France and the UK, but rarely in Germany. I am not sure about the translations, but I will admit that he is a really tough read in German...
But I also suspect that Sebald himself was quite fine with being on the periphery of German cultural life.
What are you reading of him?
Oh wow, interesting. I guess it speaks to some of his own comments re-the state of postwar German literature (or lack thereof) that seriously reflects postwar German consciousness.
In the interview he also singles out Thomas Bernhard as a 'rare' author who goes against the grain. And then in the Foreword to A Natural History of Destruction he basically says that even supposedly contrarian authors obediently towed the Nazi line during the War, and were clearly interested in sanitising their own image after the War.
I'm currently reading The Rings of Saturn (English). I can read a bit of German but nowhere near good enough to read novels, let alone Sebald. Also got my hands on A Natural History of Destruction, but unlikely that I'll be reading beyond the Foreword, as I've got a long list of to-reads!
Yes, I think it was also in the Silverblatt interview that he explains how he just had to leave Germany at some point, because he couldn't bear how no one wanted to talk about what had happened between '33 and '45.
I hear particularly the English translations are very good and faithful, because he worked very closely with the translator. Hopefully they agreed to cut some sentences in half...
If you want to read further after Rings, The Emigrants is also a very sebaldian book. I find his texts to take quite some time to digest - so they are nicely compatible with a long reading list ;-)
Yep, I have to keep reminding myself that the English works are translations, not the original. But still they're spectacular, and no long sentences (yet).
Cheers for the rec! I think The Emigrants, Austerlitz and The Natural History of Destruction are all going on my list :)