Book contents
- W.G. Sebald in Context
- W.G. Sebald in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Text
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Works by W.G. Sebald
- Part I Biographical Aspects
- Part II The Literary Works
- Part III Themes and Influences
- Chapter 17 Critical Writings
- Chapter 18 Minor Writing
- Chapter 19 Franz Kafka
- Chapter 20 Literary Predecessors
- Chapter 21 Walter Benjamin
- Chapter 22 Philosophical Models
- Chapter 23 History
- Chapter 24 Polemics
- Chapter 25 Holocaust
- Chapter 26 Photography
- Chapter 27 Paintings and Ekphrasis
- Chapter 28 Media Theory
- Chapter 29 Travel Writing
- Chapter 30 Ecocriticism and Animal Studies
- Part IV Reception and Legacy
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 23 - History
from Part III - Themes and Influences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2023
- W.G. Sebald in Context
- W.G. Sebald in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Text
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Works by W.G. Sebald
- Part I Biographical Aspects
- Part II The Literary Works
- Part III Themes and Influences
- Chapter 17 Critical Writings
- Chapter 18 Minor Writing
- Chapter 19 Franz Kafka
- Chapter 20 Literary Predecessors
- Chapter 21 Walter Benjamin
- Chapter 22 Philosophical Models
- Chapter 23 History
- Chapter 24 Polemics
- Chapter 25 Holocaust
- Chapter 26 Photography
- Chapter 27 Paintings and Ekphrasis
- Chapter 28 Media Theory
- Chapter 29 Travel Writing
- Chapter 30 Ecocriticism and Animal Studies
- Part IV Reception and Legacy
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Sebald was an author deeply devoted to the ethical responsibilities and aesthetic possibilities of literary discourse, and this essay explores the importance of history within his constellation of ethical and aesthetic concerns. Special attention is paid to analysing Sebald’s unique fictional prose form that blurs the boundary between literature and historiography. Distinct from historical novels and documentary fiction, Sebald’s works rely on facts and artefacts as much as they need both memory and imagination. While the traces, repression, and erasure of National Socialist crimes are prominent in his works, the German past is not his only concern. Sebald writes on the Belgian colonial oppression in the Congo, the capitalist exploitation of the Amazon forests, and the massacres caused by Napoleon’s military campaigns. Furthermore, trauma is not limited to human experience in Sebald’s works; he devotes attention to the destruction of nature and animals as well. Focusing on Sebald’s attempts to find appropriate ways to approach the past and individual experience, this essay shows how he creates a literary form that both encourages reader engagement and provides empathetic access to the past.
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- W. G. Sebald in Context , pp. 202 - 209Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023