21st Century Literature discussion

Thank you for reading Austerlitz with us. This folder is for general commentaries about the author, style, impression, translation, background etc, without specific reference to plots in the book.

Thanks Lia.

A few reviews (these may contain spoilers)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/28/bo...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/c...
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...
http://www.thenewcanon.com/austerlitz...
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n19/james-w...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...

Thanks Hugh!

What format/ edition are you reading? Are you using the audiobook? Are you reading the English translation or the original? Are you reading the ebook or a printed book?

For those who wish to follow a structured schedule (not that there’s anything ironic about imposing order and structure on Austerlitz...), I suggest:

M = Modern Library 10th Anniversary
🐧 = 2002 Penguin edition

Week 1 (1-6): Everything up to this picture of a rugger team |M.75| |🐧106|



Week 2 (7 - 13): Everything up to this octofoil mosaic flower |M151| |🐧213|


Week 3 (14 - 20) everything up to this |M 225| |🐧317|


Week 4 (21-31) Whole Book ... and Trick or Treat!

I’m reading the ebook this time, unfortunately I don’t have the printed book with me here (that’s why I’m not giving page number.)

I’ve noticed some of the pictures are arranged slightly differently in ebook format (by that I mean the page layout.) I wonder if that would have mattered to Sebald. (We do know that Sebald was a bit of an anti-modernity/ technology luddite, so the whole idea of “ebook” or “digital edition” might be too shocking or horrifying for him to contemplate, or at least, talk about.)

I also think the image quality might be more noticeable on prints than in digital formats. Even on tablet it’s hard to notice the “halftone” of some of the pictures (which came from printed books). Here’s an interesting article about Sebald’s usages and sources of images (contains spoilers.)

http://enclavereview.org/unrecounted-...

Thanks, Lia!

I'm reading a hard copy (Random House) written in English, translated by Anthea Bell.

I'm reading the print book in English. According to my copy, those pictures are at pages 75, 151 and 225.

The images in my copy aren't the best quality either, but I'm loving that they're there. It helps to break up the text and it's fun to contemplate them for a few minutes before moving on. I won't look at that link yet because of spoilers, but sounds fascinating--thanks Lia!

Thanks for the page number Kathleen! I tried to get iBooks to show me the page number but it just won’t. You’re a lifesaver!

Lia wrote: "I’m reading the ebook this time, unfortunately I don’t have the printed book with me here (that’s why I’m not giving page number.)

I’ve noticed some of the pictures are arranged slightly differen..."
I have a tree copy: the modern library 10th Anniversary Ed. Images and page numbers are all en pointe! So, thank you, Kathleen and Lia!

I think it's great to orient the read not only by page number but by picture as well.

I'm audio-booking with the German version, and supplementing with an English print copy to provide pictures and to check vocabulary. Last time I read this I used the English audiobook version and it's great. I don't know why but having an audio version really enhanced this particular read for me...it has such a feel of someone speaking extemporaneously and ruminating about connections through history.

Lark wrote: "I'm audio-booking with the German version, and supplementing with an English print copy to provide pictures a..."

I’ve heard that with Sebald, the translation is essentially a different book. I don’t speak German so I wouldn’t know, but I’m keen to find out if you notice any significant difference.

I’ve been reading the (English) ebook on multiple devices, sometimes I just put it on TTS when I’m commuting. I notice I lose track of things very quickly with Sebald when I “listen.” I feel like the pictures themselves aren’t obviously, explicitly significant or relevant, but if I don’t look at the pages, the images, the text, the layout, somehow it’s not “coming together” for me. So I’m also curious how “readers” get on with audiobooks!

Numbers for my 415 page 2002 Penguin edition are different: 106, 213 and 317.

Thanks Hugh, I added the 🐧 Pagination as well.

the German audiobook is 4 hours longer than the English audiobook. What's that all about? Is German really so many more syllables? Is the English version abridged?

this is kind of funny--a fan reading an 11-page sentence from the book (English):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzGL...

Lark wrote: "the German audiobook is 4 hours longer than the English audiobook. What's that all about? Is German really so many more syllables? Is the English version abridged?"

In print, many languages (Spanish and French for sure) use more words than English. If the same is true for German that could explain the difference in the times for the audiobooks. But also, different book readers read at different speeds. The variation can be a lot, so simply the fact that there are two different readers for the two languages can explain this.

As someone who likes to read the written book while simultaneously listening to the audiobook, I can also confirm that even within one book the reader often will read some parts faster than others. The difference often is between sections with dialogue (usually faster) and narration (usually slower).

Lark wrote: "this is kind of funny--a fan reading an 11-page sentence from the book (English):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzGL..."

Ha! Someone asked Sebald about the insane complexity of his sentences at an interview (back in 1998, I think), and

Sebald said: “I usually start with a fairly short sentence. Then I need to include factual information which doesn't fit into the next sentence, so I have to recast the sentence I've begun. The result is that by the time I've finished with it, my sentence is rather like a labyrinth. I do like some writers who work straight forwardly, main clause after main clause. But I tend to prefer those who engage in a degree of elaboration. ”

BTW, for those who worry about spoilers, the 11 page sentence being read out loud in this video comes from materials for week 4. (Not that I think it matters.)

This blogger visited and photographed several of the sites that are described in Austerlitz. Not a lot of analysis or reflection on Sebald’s work itself, but nice to look at what some fans are inspired to do.

They did add captions/ texts from the book, so don’t read the words if you don’t want spoilers but want to enjoy color non-potato-quality photos of the same sites:

http://stalkingsebald.blogspot.com/

Another blog with nice color photos, but in French (Well, I *think* it’s French. Which I can’t read, so I have no idea what it is about.)

http://norwitch.wordpress.com/

Another one I can’t read (German), but if you want to ogle at some portraits of Sebald as a young man/artist/academic, for example:

http://www.wgsebald.de/sely/youngman....

More links, articles, interviews here (mostly / all in German as far as I can tell.)
http://www.wgsebald.de/sebald.html

Finally found one in English. This blog collects Sebald-relevant books and films and audiobooks and merchandises and events etc

https://sebald.wordpress.com/category...

The award-winning translator of Austerlitz into English (and many other works, most famously the Asterix cartoons), Anthea Bell, passed away today.

Thanks Paul. That’s very sad, I was just reading this the other day

http://www.new-books-in-german.com/gr...

Is there anything you’ve translated that has affected you very deeply?

I think one could hardly fail to be deeply affected by working on the translation of three of W.G. Sebald’s books, the first two – Austerlitz and On the Natural History of Destruction – with the active help and encouragement of Max Sebald himself. His sadly premature death in a road accident reinforced that sense of attachment to his work.

Like others, I find Sebald’s writings mesmerizing and inexplicably moving. It’s not the plot — it has to be the details, the language. I think we have Anthea Bell to thank for that.

Sebald was also well served by Michael Hulse (who translated The Emigrants, Rings of Saturn and Vertigo) and by Michael Hamburger. Although Sebald's English was excellent - he lived in England for most of his professional life - and he was rather hands-on with his English translations, to the extent that he ended up falling out with Hulse in particular. Bell was apparently more robust in defending her decisions. But Sebald sent Hamburger's wife a signed copy of the English version of Austerlitz as a gift, but which also had handwritten amendments to Bell's published translation.

see https://sebald.wordpress.com/2011/09/...

That's not just a few tweaks but some fairly extensive edits. Interesting, I'd like to learn more about this. The article references a couple of writings about the process of translating his works by Bell and Hulse - I'm going to try to track those down. Thanks for posting.