This was a very original, unusual and captivating book and my first venture into Sebald. The narrator takes us on a walking tour around Suffolk county on the east coast of England, while giving us a history lesson in related local and foreign events and sharing with us his inner thoughts and reflections. The text is interspersed with bad grainy photos, which makes the whole experience very sureal. He finds a seamless way of bridging between his perception of the physical surroundings and his musings on historical topics, whether it’s the decline of the local seaside economy, Sir Thomas Browne’s skull, Joseph Conrad and Roger Casement, the demise of the local herring industry, or sericulture in Norwich. His diversity of topics is never muddled and Sebald finds a natural almost dreamlike way to beautifully transition from one topic to the next. It’s almost like a tour of his mind.

His central theme seems to be somewhat nostalgic and poignant, one of decay, nothing is permanent and ultimately everything dies:

“ ... nothing endures, in Thomas Browne’s view. On every new thing there lies already the shadow of annihilation. ... There is no antidote, he writes, against the opium of time ... Dunwich, with its towers and many thousand souls, has dissolved into water, sand and thin air.”

Sebald’s lyrical prose has a poetic ring to it and is some of the most enjoyable I have read in a long time.

“And yet, what would we be without memory? We would not be capable of ordering even the simplest thoughts, the most sensitive heart would lose the ability to show affection, our existence would be a mere never-ending chain of meaningless moments, and there would not be the faintest trace of a past.”

I really enjoyed this book. Despite the unusual narrative and seemingly endless range of topics, I was fully immersed and never bored. It just naturally flows. Highly recommended.

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Benché questo libro sia da molti considerato l'apice di Sebald, io lo metto al secondo posto pari merito rispetto alle mie letture, insieme a Vertigini e dietro a un'altra coppia pari merito, Gli emigrati e Austerlitz, peraltro letti in questo ordine. A Vertigini questo libro somiglia per la natura più legata legata alle divagazioni, laddove gli altri due libri li ho apprezzati, oltre che credo per un maggiore fattore di novità, per la struttura narrativa più coerente e coesa, pur conservando tutte le caratteristiche della scrittura di Sebald, incluso l'utilizzo delle immagini. A ogni modo, lettura preziosa, e consigliabile a tutti, al di là di come e dove si posiziona nel mio percorso. Di Sebald trovo apprezzabile soprattutto la capacità di muoversi liberamente e al tempo stesso profondamente, peregrinando da un luogo all'altro, da una suggestione all'altra.

"Eppure, che cosa saremmo mai senza il ricordo? Non saremmo in grado di mettere ordine nemmeno tra i pensieri più semplici, il cuore più ardente perderebbe la capacità di volgersi con simpatia a un altro, la nostra esistenza consisterebbe soltanto in una successione infinita di momenti privi di senso, e non vi sarebbe più traccia di un qualche passato. Che miseria, la nostra vita!" ( )

sections 1 through 4 are exceptional (in decreasing order). in the discussion of Joseph Conrad, and in later sections, the attempt at presenting a historicized pathos is too explicit. ( )

From a distance the most distinctive feature of the sixth planet from the sun in our solar system is a set of rings consisting of debris from some previously circulating body which, due to some unknown cataclysm, disintegrated. The remains of this ancient event, the rings, are evident even though the event itself is lost to us. So too, one might say, the debris of humanity’s interactions, which themselves are lost in the fog of time, nonetheless continue to encircle us, and might, from a distance also be our most distinctive feature. Following the traces in the past of present objects or events affords the opportunity to ruminate upon the unravelling of our various hopes and plans. Which might be a fair characterization of grief.

Ostensibly following a walking route down the Norfolk coast, the narrator’s thoughts roam much further in space across the whole of the known world and in time across hundreds of years of our history. The connections, like threads in a complex tapestry, are sometimes surprising, more often poignant. But throughout, a kind of melancholy nearly overwhelms the writing. This is by design.

Sebald’s writing is so measured and gentle, thoughtful and carefully constructed, that the paragraphs of sometimes many pages slip by seemingly without effort. But the tremendous amount of research necessary to accommodate such fluid writing about disparate events must almost go without saying, because contemplating it would make the work seem too large to tackle. Yet when it ends, you’ll feel as though you barely scratched the surface of what might have been said. Fascinating.

Highly recommended. ( )

This was like going for a walk with a friend. A really clever, informed, interested and interesting friend. Wonderful and moving. I didn't want it to end. ( )