 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Austerlitz for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"A remarkable accomplishment." --"Los Angeles Times"
"Sebald stands with Primo Levi as the prime speaker of the Holocaust and, with him, the prime contradiction of Adorno's dictum that after it, there can be no art." --Richard Eder, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Sebald is a rare and elusive species . . . but still, he is an easy read, just as Kafka is. . . . He is an addiction, and once buttonholed by his books, you have neither the wish nor the will to tear yourself away." --Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"
"Is literary greatness still possible? What would a noble literary enterprise look like? One of the few answers available to English-speaking readers is the work of W. G. Sebald." --Susan Sontag
"Sebald stands with Primo Levi as the prime speaker of the Holocaust and, with him, the prime contradiction of Adorno's dictum that after it, there can be no art." --Richard Eder, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Sebald is a rare and elusive species . . . but still, he is an easy read, just as Kafka is. . . . He is an addiction, and once buttonholed by his books, you have neither the wish nor the will to tear yourself away." --Anthony Lane, "The New Yorker"
"Is literary greatness still possible? What would a noble literary enterprise look like? One of the few answers available to English-speaking readers is the work of W. G. Sebald." --Susan Sontag
Product Description
In 1939, five-year-old Jacques Austerlitz is sent to England on a Kindertransport and placed with foster parents. This childless couple promptly erase from the boy all knowledge of his identity and he grows up ignorant of his past. Later in life, after a career as an architectural historian, Austerlitz - having avoided all clues that might point to his origin - finds the past returning to haunt him and he is forced to explore what happened fifty years before.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Starved since the author's death in 2001 of any new substantial 'product' to sell, you could accuse Penguin books of cashing in by reprinting "Austerlitz" in a new 'tenth anniversary' edition. Certainly those familiar with the work should think twice about buying this, since the text is the same. However, Wood's introduction is very good: long on insight and common sense interpretation, and aimed at our good friend General Reader rather than just at students and lecturers. This renders the intro more accessible to all, and in fact it's useful not only as an introduction to this book, but also Sebald's whole body of work, so that overall I'd recommend this book as a good place to start with Sebald for those new to his work.
Sebald said that one of his main concerns as a writer was with Germany and its place in Europe and European culture. Of course this also meant that the crimes committed by the Nazis cast their shadow over his work, whether he alluded to them directly or not. By the time of "Austerlitz", he finally engaged with the subject of the persecution of the Jews, by making his eponymous main character into someone touched directly that persecution. The main thread of this story concerns Austerlitz slowly piecing together the facts about his early life as a little jewish boy sent to Great Britain to escape the horrors of Nazi persecution.
This is not an easy book, although its plot is fairly simple and engaging. Some complain about Sebald's style, and certainly you have to bear with him, for a lot of the sentences are quite long (I don't mean to patronise anyone in saying this. It's just that tight, short syntax is so much the norm these days, from mainstream writing, to websites and daily papers, so that longer, snaking sentences take a while to get used to again). He's also a very allusive writer, making reference to a myriad different cultural and historical facts and points of interest.
However, the rewards are there if you put the effort in. "Austerlitz", unfortunately, became something as a memorial to Sebald, since he died shortly after its publication. In it's own way, however, the book also stands as a memorial to the suffering of so many. For once the hype was justified: Sebald is one of the great european writers, and this is a seminal work in our shared cultural heritage. This edition and Wood's intro help to put all this into context.
Sebald said that one of his main concerns as a writer was with Germany and its place in Europe and European culture. Of course this also meant that the crimes committed by the Nazis cast their shadow over his work, whether he alluded to them directly or not. By the time of "Austerlitz", he finally engaged with the subject of the persecution of the Jews, by making his eponymous main character into someone touched directly that persecution. The main thread of this story concerns Austerlitz slowly piecing together the facts about his early life as a little jewish boy sent to Great Britain to escape the horrors of Nazi persecution.
This is not an easy book, although its plot is fairly simple and engaging. Some complain about Sebald's style, and certainly you have to bear with him, for a lot of the sentences are quite long (I don't mean to patronise anyone in saying this. It's just that tight, short syntax is so much the norm these days, from mainstream writing, to websites and daily papers, so that longer, snaking sentences take a while to get used to again). He's also a very allusive writer, making reference to a myriad different cultural and historical facts and points of interest.
However, the rewards are there if you put the effort in. "Austerlitz", unfortunately, became something as a memorial to Sebald, since he died shortly after its publication. In it's own way, however, the book also stands as a memorial to the suffering of so many. For once the hype was justified: Sebald is one of the great european writers, and this is a seminal work in our shared cultural heritage. This edition and Wood's intro help to put all this into context.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
