The Filipino Group discussion

Hello, we'll be reading Austerlitz, the final novel of W.G. Sebald (it was published a little over a month before the author's death). The novel won the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and the 2002 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (originally published in German).

Because of the novel's unconventional structure, the reading plan below is divided by pictures (yes, it has more pictures than paragraphs). These will serve as markers/milestones to accommodate our mini-discussion.

Monday, 29: Photo of a backpack hanging on a chair
Tuesday, 30: Photo of a group of football players (male adolescents)
Wednesday, 1: Photo of a billiards table with two balls
Thursday, 2: Photo of a "very peculiar building"
Friday, 3: Photo of a stage theater with two men on the left

Monday, 6: Photo of a "prettily built and fully glazed pump-room"
Tuesday, 7: Photo of an old man (front-right) and a young woman (back-left)
Wednesday, 8: Homestretch to the end

Feel free to join us!

Monday, 29:
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I can't help thinking in metaphors as I read this novel. The extended talk on historical architecture makes me think of one's design and construction of his or her own past, which is the major premise of the novel (not surprisingly, Austerlitz is an art history lecturer). I particularly like the parts where the narrator explores the citadel and Austerlitz the Palace of Justice because it feels like they are exploring Austerlitz's mental map, or a historical map of Europe (it could work either way). There are dead-ends, chambers that have changed their purposes, torture rooms, all of these feel to me like fragments of memory that do not make sense if taken individually.
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Hi....tinitignan ko ang reading plan nyo kung kaya ko humabol. I'm considering joining since I quit reading this book about 2 years ago :-P

Isipin ko pa mabuti.....hehe.

Go, H! Ihabol mo na lang yung one day sa Saturday. As usual, sarado ang buddy reads kapag weekends.

H! First day pa lang naman. Wala pang backlog! Let's do it. ;)

Hehe...sige na nga! Page 30 ako nag stop 2 years ago kaya kelangan ko siguro basahin ulit :-P

I'd really love to join but the only Sebald book that I have here is The Emigrants. :/

Bennard wrote: "I'd really love to join but the only Sebald book that I have here is The Emigrants. :/"

Aw Benny. Should you find one anyway, join us. :)

Monday, June 29

Thoughts:
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(1) I had a bit of difficulty with the narration. Long sentences are long, and I tried reading slowly for the ideas to penetrate my (scattered) brain. Then I realized that reading a bit faster makes the sentences more coherent, so eventually I got the hang of it.

(2) Did the narrator and Austerlitz just meet by chance, or did they each other prior to meeting at Centraal Station? Later I realized that they were complete strangers because the narrator mentioned knowing nothing "personal" about Austerlitz except for that one small bit that escapes me now. For total strangers to meet coincidentally many more times after a first one is something else.

(3) I am tempted to Google the historical bits (especially the torture!) mentioned by Austerlitz. Antwerp isn't one of the more popular European cities (compared to, for instance, Paris or London or Prague) but because of the little trivia mentioned here, I'm suddenly curious. Are they all true??

(4) What was that bit about Novelli and his A's? It's probably insignificant but I just asked anyway. :)
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Re: Novelli, it feels like a muffled scream to me. If you look at all those trailing A's, it looks and reads like a long shout. Probably the torture that he experienced is still alive in him and is thus reflected subconsciously in his art.

Benny: Your call next time?

Tuesday, 30

Thoughts:
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This part is easier to read, the story flows more freely and fluidly. Perhaps it's because Austerlitz begins to tell the narrator his childhood story, of his foster parents and his experiences in school. I felt sad about the relationship between the Eliases, they seemed to love each other but why did they never speak? It's good that Austerlitz was able to hold up by himself in that living situation. And I can only imagine how jarring it would be to be given another name and identity after many years of believing you are who what they said you are. I can't wait to read more about Austerlitz's quest to find where he came from. (hide spoiler)]

Malapit na ako maka-catch up sa daily reading plan :)

(view spoiler)[Monique: Baka totoo naman yung mga "facts" na sinasabi ni Sebald sa first 50 pages...parang mahirap ata imbentohin yon hahaha. Pero nagtataka din ako. Interesting yung part about that Palace na mala House of Leaves lang ang loob...totoong building kaya yon?


The first 5o pages were challenging because it seems pointless to me. I found it hard to concentrate, and if day 2 reading didn't become easier, and more interesting, mag qui-quit na talaga ako. It's a bit hard to concentrate, pero now that Austerlitz is talking about his childhood, mas madali na.

Interesting din yung tungkol kay Evan who sees dead people... (hide spoiler)]

May torture ba..parang wala akong maalala? The only torture I can think of is me reading this book hahaha! Joke lang :P

H: Yesss! Hahaha. :)

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There was a part there, yung kay Gastone Novelli? ".. I read Jean Amery's description of the dreadful physical closeness between torturers and their victims, and of the tortures he himself suffered in Breendonk when he was hoisted aloft by his hands, tied behind his back, so that with a crack and a splintering sound x x x his arms dislocated from the sockets in his shoulder joints, and he was left dangling as they were wrenched up behind him and twisted together above his head x x x"

The childhood part was what picked up the pace I think. :) (hide spoiler)]

Ok..now I remember! :)

Wednesday, July 1

Thoughts:
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Gerald was Austerlitz's "fag": a student at a boarding school who is required to perform menial tasks for a student in a higher grade. I didn't know the context so I had to Google it.

I liked the stories of Austerlitz's stay at Stower Grange, especially about Gerald's Uncle Evelyn and Alphonso. So far the narrative sustains its interest for me because of stories like these; otherwise, it would be so boring.

I liked what Austerlitz said about time, about why he didn't like watches or clocks. It doesn't make sense, but it does make sense! Do I make sense? Heh. (hide spoiler)]

I'm enjoying lurking in this thread because it's like there's no danger of spoilers. Every commentary is disjointed and experimental.

Will make habol, tinapos ko na muna yung mga overdue kong books for June. :D

Kristel, aren't you supposed to join us? :D

Hindi ako nakabili, sry. And I couldn't justify an impulse buy because of oral surgery costs. :(

July 1 reading aka 'Everything I Never Wanted To Know About Moths'

(view spoiler)[Pero tama ka Monique, interesting ung stories ni Austerlitz despite its rambling and seemingly random qualities.

Hindi naman madaldal si Austerlitz,noh? :-)

I want to know how Gerald died. Austerlitz made it seem like he died young... (hide spoiler)]

Tuesday, 30:
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You know the set-up is done when the narrative jumps back to the past, particularly the childhood years. I found this part slightly haunting. Perhaps it has something to do with the pictures. There's a ghostly feel in them. It's as if I were looking at the pictures with an old Austerlitz. Also, it's as if I were watching a documentary of dying/dead someone who has had a sad life (one could feel the sadness in the descriptions of the Elias household and the relationships of the members among each other). I like how Evan the cobbler/visionary put mortality in terms of linen and veil, things made of thread (perhaps an askew allusion to the mythological Fates).

Reading the history lessons on Austerlitz reminds me of War and Peace (because Napoleon and Bagration and Kutusov). I'll just throw this slightly irrelevant question out here: could there be link or similarities between the Napoleonic Wars and the Holocaust?

Last thing. This line got me: "[...] I can see now that the unhappiness building up inside [Elias] had destroyed his faith just when he needed it most." Simple words but putting unhappiness and faith in a single sentence stirred something in me.
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Thursday, July 2: Angus: I think the whole novel, so far, has a haunting feel to it.

Do you guys feel that the photos help the plot of the novel,or are essential?

Thursday, July 2

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Gerald's death signaled the beginning of Austerlitz's decline, and that was the time when he began to feel that his life's work was a waste, culminating in a nervous breakdown. Plus there was that episode in the "waiting room" in the Liverpool station where his unknown past was catching up to him. Why didn't he take steps to find out about his past? Hilary did try to have him naturalized but he shouldn't have stopped at that when the trail went cold. Poor Austerlitz, he doesn't know anything about where he came from. Did the Eliases do him good by taking him in, or the opposite? (hide spoiler)]

The one of this book has been sombre for me, since the beginning. I highlighted that passage on my copy, Buddy, about Elias's faith. Sad, right?

H: The photos aren't really doing anything necessary for the plot. They're just like visual aids - they don't necessarily add something to the substance of what's being read. Although in my case I look forward to seeing a photo after several pages of pure text because I find myself getting tired (literally) from the narrative.

M: same here....though some of the photos are interesting, I mainly look forward to them because they break the monotony of the paragraghless text - and they make the 50-page reading assignment go faster ;-)

(view spoiler)[why didn't he search out his origins sooner? Good question. Well it did say that he tried to when he was younger, but it didn't turn up anything useful. Maybe he really just didn't have the means to search, and he was just caught up with life...?

Did being adopted by the Eliases do him good? Well that depends on what reallyt happened to his family. Between being adopted and dying, I'd think he was better off with the Eliases.

Is it just me or is Austerlitz a bit selfish or vain with regards to his relationship with our nameless narrator? It just seems to me that he only likes being with the narrator so he can talk about himself...I don't know, naisip ko lang :-P (hide spoiler)]

I'm so slow. I think I'm suffering from a mild case of the dreaded reading rut. Anyway.

Wednesday, 1:
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The stories about animals' lives seem to reflect a part of the human condition, which says that animals, whether they are moths or swallows, are capable of feelings. It's a strand that connects us to beings that we consider inferior to us. I feel that Austerlitz could be saying that when it comes down to living and suffering, we are no better than animals. Everything feels grief, has inner lives, has sacrifices, etc.

The time part resonates bits of the theory of relativity. If time is relative, what's the point of keeping a watch or a clock?
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Re: Photos. They give the effect that these fictional things we are reading are actually real. I think this is the effect that the author wants to achieve. What's the point of telling stories when you don't want the listener to believe them? Hence, I think the photos are essential. If one thinks otherwise, I think the photos are still interesting. It's not everyday that you read a novel with pictures.

Thursday, 2:
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The fortresses that Austerlitz built for self-preservation start to crumble. It's similar to the Antwerp fortifications at the early part of the novel. No matter your efforts, there's a weak spot that the enemy can track and exploit. In the case of Austerlitz, his fortresses' weakness is his need to go home. Although not as good as pigeons, we are like them who, as explained by Gerald, are very good at navigating back home without us even understanding how and why. Perhaps then, Austerlitz's need to go home, or the need to know his roots and ultimately who he is, which is something that can't be explained like the pigeons' ability, is human nature and perhaps not a weakness after all. The enemy that is Austerlitz's past knows this all along and is just waiting for the right time to attack, to confront, to haunt, and possibly to destroy him, which kind of suggests that self-preservation is an act doomed to futility. The demons of the must be confronted sooner or later, not an easy thing to do and not always a thing that would bring one to peace. It's an impasse for Austerlitz. If he wants to go back home, he has to do something that he has been evading all his life. Otherwise, he'll be stuck in a limbo.
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Buddy: The question I am more interested in is if the Eliases did good in destroying his documents and records, which in effect erased his identity. I think the Eliases did good in adopting him. Survival is a good thing, it's what we are programmed to do. And this is despite the guilt of surviving when almost everyone was wiped out. (We do realize that Austerlitz is a Jew, yes? That is a very tricky factor to consider in answering why he didn't bother to know about his origins.)

H: I think the narrator is telling the story of Austerlitz not because the latter is vain or only talks about himself, but probably because he finds him an enigmatic being that he can't quite figure out (which is why he's narrating his story in an attempt to understand him). And probably there isn't anything fantastic in the narrator's life, hehe.

Friday, 3:

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And so through Vera, Austerlitz learns about his parents, Agata and Maximilian, and their fates. The Nazi period is a period in history I've always been interested in; I'll research more on the Nazi activities in Prague. (view spoiler)[Suddenly remembered Kavalier and Clay. (hide spoiler)]
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Buddy: When I posed that question about the Eliases adopting him, I was thinking more along the lines of their capacities to be foster parents, whether they were fit to raise him as their own, and not of Austerlitz's well-being, in the end. But yes, I guess between being left a foundling, with no family to take him in, as opposed to having the Eliases as foster parents, you're right, the Eliases did him good. It wasn't as if there were a lot of choices back then, especially adding to the mix the fact that he (and his parents) were Jewish.

Off to Google about the Nazi occupation in Prague.

Friday, 3:
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I flipped the page after the stage theater because I'm itching to find out what the other photo is. So can I just say that I'll never look at the book cover the same way again?
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BUDDY: What did you think of that photo before you knew who it was? :)

^I knew it was Austerlitz, but it was just a photo without a story.

Monday, 6:

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Taking the "haunting" atmosphere of the book a step further and saying, spirits and ghouls. My skin crawled when I read those parts.

Did Agata know what was going to happen to her eventually that's why she shipped Austerlitz off somewhere? Why didn't Vera just take him in? It doesn't appear that Vera was a Jew, so he'd be safe with her, right? I was wondering why Vera didn't just take Austerlitz and they could have gone elsewhere. Of course, I still haven't done my history homework/research that's why I'm asking this.

I couldn't imagine how difficult it was for Austerlitz to go back to that spa where he, his family, and Vera had their last vacation together before he was shipped off somewhere. To have to confront the ghosts of the past. But it's time for that, wasn't it? To embrace his lost identity and forgotten past fully? (hide spoiler)]

Monday, 6:
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I was wondering whether or not Sebald was an architect/engineer/construction worker because it seems like he patterns Austerlitz's state of mind after detailed descriptions of buildings and various constructions. He describes the closed houses at Terezin (blocking out the light) when Austerlitz is about to see for himself what happened to the ghettoized Jews of Czechoslovakia, which includes his mother. And so it goes with the spa (can I just say that this part is so poignant, being haunted by something that you can't even remember?). I observed this in the previous parts and I can't help being fascinated. I think it's a skillful way to set the mood.
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Buddy: Will answer your questions.

Perhaps she knew. The Jews were being terribly oppressed and persecuted. It's a mother's responsibility to protect her children, so I think she did the right thing to have Austerlitz shipped off to England. I wonder though why is there a Kindertransport? Who organized it?

I don't think Vera could adopt Austerlitz because remember The Book Thief? They cannot tell anyone that they are hiding a Jew in their basement. This was all later, during the peak of the war, but perhaps there will be severe punishments for anyone who shelters a Jew.

Tuesday, 7:

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The past is slowly reclaiming Austerlitz. Or is it the other way around?

I'm feeling for Austerlitz and it's depressing. Heh. (hide spoiler)]

Buddy: Apparently, Kindertransport or Children's Transport was a mission from the UK purposely for the rescue of Jewish children all over Europe and placing them in foster homes in Britain between 1938-1940. Reading all about the historical background of Austerlitz and wow, this is amazing. This is why I love historical fiction. Here: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.p...

Tuesday, 7:
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There's something depressingly and delusionally romantic in Austerlitz's claim that the woman in the movie (our milestone for today) is his mother even if he is not entirely sure that she is indeed his mother. Also, it seems to me that he's never really had a love life. There's Marie, but it feels more like an affair to me. He claims that he's had this tendency to push people away. Why? Could this tendency root from the horrors of his past (i.e. trauma)? Did it mar his social skills?

And that battered rucksack! I found it both funny and sad when a German woman gave him a coin for alms. Somehow, it feels like a reparation for all the things that the war has damaged, but of course, it's not enough. It will never be enough. He accepts the coin calmly though. What else can he do? There's nothing that he could've done and could now do to bring back his mother. (And what about his father?)
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Buddy: I like historical fiction, too, but I don't seek novels because of their historical elements. But yes, we do learn a lot of truth from fiction, no? I think I've learned more about the WWII from reading novels than my history class(es). I can barely recall them. And, while I was reading your link (thanks!), I just had goosebumps all over. It really did happen and I don't think I want to know more. Perhaps this is what Austerlitz felt? It's just too painful knowing what people did to other people, and I'm just an observer.

Wednesday, 8:
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I can't help wondering where Agata was "sent east" to. If it's east, it can't be Germany. I looked at a map and saw that Poland is east/northeast of Czech Rep (I thought it was north). There is one extermination camp that stands out in Poland and it is almost directly east of Terezin. And it sounds like Austerlitz.

I like how a lot of things are withdrawn. It makes the novel less sentimental but when you think of all the things unsaid, that's when the novel begins to be haunting. No, I didn't have a breakdown, but I know I'll be thinking of this for a while. I finished the novel without really knowing who Austerlitz is but what can be expected from a man who might not even know what place of origin to write after his name (refer to the last page)?

But I get this gut-wrenching feeling that he'll write Jacques Austerlitz, Auschwitz, 7.9.15.
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