Carole Angier

The long-awaited first biography of W. G. Sebald.

"A remarkable portrait." --Guardian

W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of the twentieth century. Through books including The Emigrants, Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, he pursued an original literary vision that combined fiction, history, autobiography and photography and addressed some of the most profound themes of contemporary literature: the burden of the Holocaust, memory, loss and exile.

The first show more biography to explore his life and work, Speak, Silence pursues the true Sebald through the memories of those who knew him and through the work he left behind. This quest takes Carole Angier from Sebald's birth as a second-generation German at the end of the Second World War, through his rejection of the poisoned inheritance of the Third Reich, to his emigration to England, exploring the choice of isolation and exile that drove his work. It digs deep into a creative mind on the edge, finding profound empathy and paradoxical ruthlessness, saving humour, and an elusive mix of fact and fiction in his life as well as work. The result is a unique, ferociously original portrait. show less

Jean Rhys drew heavily from events in her own life in her five novels: A Voyage in the Dark, After Leaving Mr. MacKenzie, Quartet, Good Morning Midnight, and Wide Sargasso Sea. So much so, they almost form an autobiography. Carol Angier's study of Rhys weaves a biography from these works, and Rhys's short stories and letters. I think once you've read one or two of Rhys's novels, you'll want to read them all. Because they are brief, and because her style is so modern, that's a very doable show more project. I'd recommend not reading this study until you've finished at least the first four novels above so as to avoid spoilers. Then I think, you'll really enjoy the connections Angier makes between Rhys's life and her work and the unity she sees in the novels. show less

This biography looks at the life and work of Primo Levi the noted Italian philosopher, writer and scientist. This book looks at the man within his life in Turin, before, during and after World War II. The particular place of the Jew in Italy, Primo Levi as a European as well as a notable survivor of Auschwitz and at the influence he had on people all over the world, particularly in the last 15 years, are all covered in the book.