tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post7173375568853282921..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: The EmigrantsRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-41696328052296781822010-10-10T01:53:35.840-04:002010-10-10T01:53:35.840-04:00*Amateur Reader: I think I've seen you talking...*Amateur Reader: I think I've seen you talking about what a "cold reader" you are elsewhere, but it's interesting to hear about it again here in relation to Sebald. While I've never really thought about myself as a reader in those terms, right now I feel like I appreciate what Sebald says more than how he says it in some ways. In any event, thanks for the link (I'll have to reread that piece) and the info on Sebald's development of his writing style.<br /><br />*Emily: I think Sebald <em>is</em> fascinating in <em>The Emigrants</em>, and I actually hope to read all of the rest of his stuff at some point. At the same time, I was sort of lukewarm about his delivery in a way that Amateur Reader, Stu, and Rise are obviously not. My present lack of enthusiasm for his style isn't a deal-breaker by any means, but it is mildly puzzling to me. Would love to hear your thoughts on the guy if/when you get around to something by him!<br /><br />*Frances: How interesting to hear about your reaction (or non-reaction) to Sebald in the bookstores--at the very least, you and Emily have convinced me that I'm not alone in reacting to his writing style in the way I did! And although I'm not sure where I'd fit on Amateur Reader's warm/cold reader spectrum, I have to say that I read some Borges, Calvino, and Sergio Pitol (an older Mexican writer who is completely new to me) this weekend and found the experience with each of them much more to my liking in terms of the writer/reader relationship. Hmm...Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-81342466438212455742010-10-09T12:29:33.778-04:002010-10-09T12:29:33.778-04:00I have yet to pick up a Sebald for a full read. Qu...I have yet to pick up a Sebald for a full read. Quick random reads through his books in bookstores and the library just left me cold. No reaction at all really. And while I still plan to take the plunge at some point, it just will not be soon. Especially since readers I trust like you and Dorothy are also lukewarm on the deal. <br /><br />Had to laugh here when Amateur Reader wrote that he is a dang cold reader. Well, I am a bit of the opposite. And maybe that is part of the issue.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12597485569740436880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-26775287371252050232010-10-09T10:19:03.389-04:002010-10-09T10:19:03.389-04:00I've actually read quite a number of lukewarm ...I've actually read quite a number of lukewarm posts on Sebald books - when Slaves of Golconda read <em>Vertigo</em> both <a href="http://somanybooksblog.com/2010/03/31/vertigo-2/" rel="nofollow">Stefanie</a> and <a href="http://ofbooksandbikes.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/w-g-sebalds-vertigo/" rel="nofollow">Dorothy</a> were just so-so about it. So you're in good company. That said, I can't help thinking he sounds fascinating. Definitely on my mental to-be-read stack, despite that lack of "click" with many of my reading friends. Meditations on unreliable memory, the dream world, and literary references? Irresistible, really.Emilyhttp://www.eveningallafternoon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-8522675702444743802010-10-07T00:01:54.135-04:002010-10-07T00:01:54.135-04:00Rise identifies why, every time I write about Adel...Rise identifies why, every time I write about Adelbert Stifter or Theodor Storm, I can't help mentioning Sebald. I should probably stop. But the connections are <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2008/11/w-g-sebalds-influence-on-theodor-storm.html" rel="nofollow">so strong</a> (link provided more for reference than as a suggestion for reading).<br /><br />My understanding is that Sebald spent a decade or more working seriously on fiction before he published, and that the development of his voice was a crucial part of that work. The use of photographs, too, present in all of his fiction. So I think of it as an artistic choice, although one that was probably irreversible, since you're certainly right that, better or worse, it is he and he is it.<br /><br />Frankly, I'm a dang cold reader. Sebald's a good fit. I've known good readers who find him intellectually appealing but emotionally impenetrable, and others who are deeply moved, to tears, even - by, for example, the "marriage" of Cosmo and Ambros, or the story of the artist's mother. I'm somewhere in between.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-40396539057155663242010-10-06T23:30:38.472-04:002010-10-06T23:30:38.472-04:00*Jill: While I did find Sebald's style a littl...*Jill: While I did find Sebald's style a little too "restrained" in places for me (not sure that's the word I'm really looking for, but that'll have to do for now), I also thought he lived up to his rep as a titan on history and memory. Thanks for the heads up on those other books you mentioned and please note that you don't have to be a fan of Nabokov to appreciate his appearance in <em>The Emigrants</em>. Cheers!<br /><br />*Amateur Reader: Although I love what you say about the Sebaldian distance being "thematically essential" here, I have a very strong suspicion (maybe unfounded but still) that that may just be Sebald's voice/the way he writes/etc. That I don't relate to it with the same enthusiasm I do with Bolaño in almost anything or Melville in <em>Moby-Dick</em> really isn't a knock on the guy. In any event, I'll know more after my second Sebald, I guess. By the way, thanks so much for pointing out the Nabokov progression in <em>The Emigrants</em> (I hadn't thought of it in that way, but that's a really striking observation on your part) and for directing my attention to what Sebald said about the Nabokov character. Interesting stuff. Not sure whether or not to thank you for describing <em>The Rings of Saturn</em> so appealingly because I'd wanted to read either <em>Vertigo</em> (more of a chronological angle) or <em>Austerlitz</em> (a work I already own) next--plus now I have to read <em>Speak, Memory</em> as well! Dilemmas, dilemmas, I tell you.<br /><br />*Stu: Wow, I can't believe you guys are giving me such grief for calling <em>The Emigrants</em> a near-masterpiece! What does it take to please you people? Seriously, though, I did enjoy this work and you and Amateur Reader are seriously whetting my appetite for <em>The Rings of Saturn</em>. I think Sebald and I will be able to work out our little differences before too long, ha ha.<br /><br />*Rise: I think you make a great point about how Sebald's fictionalized persona can come off as a little cold or disengaged at times. I definitely perceived that here and there. However, I also noted how haunting that can be. Maybe it's just a matter of me adjusting to his distinctive style and eventually acclimating to it. In any event, thanks for the info on what types of writing influenced Sebald. As you can tell, this is almost all news to me, the Sebald novice. Cheers!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-35743782161827803332010-10-06T22:11:38.442-04:002010-10-06T22:11:38.442-04:00No comment. Haha! I appreciate your critical view ...No comment. Haha! I appreciate your critical view of a favorite book. I've read it 3 times already and the haunting voice sometimes chills me in places. Sebald is developing an uncompromised way of telling untold histories of exile, crime, and suffering. He admitted that he was influenced by 19th century German prose writing and also science writing. I guess his fictionalized persona can come across as disengaged and cold, perhaps his way of suppressing his own melancholia. It is an eccentric voice.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-77801729938163973862010-10-06T18:28:00.475-04:002010-10-06T18:28:00.475-04:00oh ho richard don't believe it ,I loved this b...oh ho richard don't believe it ,I loved this book ,but as previous commenter said rings of saturn is amazing ,just read some tonight actually as a preface to Sir Thomas Brownes urn burial still find sebalds style so refreshing at times ,all the best stuAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-53187287740326316632010-10-06T10:48:51.537-04:002010-10-06T10:48:51.537-04:00Yes, deeply alienated. This is a touchstone book ...Yes, deeply alienated. This is a touchstone book for me.<br /><br />Alienation is the right word, since it's part of the argument. That distance is thematically essential, however risky to the reader. The novel is in part about the difficulties of connection!<br /><br />You can call the Nabokovian figure Nabokov. Sebald did. Everything lines up with VN's biography. Trace the five appearances by VN and see how he gets closer and closer to the characters (picture, book, VN himself at a distance, VN up close, twice). Sebald is combating his own distancing techniques.<br /><br />In <i>The Rings of Saturn</i>, a stylistically similar but otherwise quite different book, Borges (his works, this time, not the man) has a related role.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-16183227192535743012010-10-06T09:08:42.970-04:002010-10-06T09:08:42.970-04:00Emigrant narratives? No wonder you weren't blo...Emigrant narratives? No wonder you weren't blown away: where are the scenes of blood and guts? Where's the noir? <br /><br />It sounds interesting to me though, except that I, alone in the world apparently, loathe Nabokov. But I love books about history and memory, especially using the lens of the Holocaust. One of my favorites is "Reflections of Nazism: An Essay on Kitsch and Death" by Saul Friedlander. "Admitting the Holocaust" by Lawrence Langer is also good. They are nonfiction, and both of them short collections of essays full of little gems about the negotiation of memory for cultural purposes.rhapsodyinbookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07041412748239010264noreply@blogger.com