Ruins and Poetics in the Works of W. G. Sebald

Ward, Simon

Abstract

Likened to Proust, Gunter Grass, and Virginia Woolf, W. G. Sebald (1944-2001) is one of the most important writers of our time, combining a wide readership with universal critical acclaim. Sebald's refracted and sometimes alienated views of both his native Germany and his adopted English homeland have had astonishing resonance in the German- and English-speaking worlds. In this first collection to appear in English, newly commissioned essays by leading international scholars offer interdisciplinary perspectives on Sebald's work, providing a thorough assessment of his achievement. Sebald's texts deal with issues that lie at the very heart of contemporary culture: memory, exile, identity, representation, history, the Holocaust. His texts are hybrid in nature, mixing fiction, biography, historiography, travel writing, and memoir, and incorporating numerous photographic images. In response to this, W. G. Sebald: A Critical Companion focuses on the key areas of travel, intertextuality, nature, and memory.

Citation

Ward, S. (2004). Ruins and Poetics in the Works of W. G. Sebald. In J. Long, & A. Whitehead (Eds.), W.G. Sebald : a critical companion (58-74). Edinburgh University Press

• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Jan 13, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: May 7, 2015
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Pages: 58-74
• Series Title: Literary conjugations
• Book Title: W.G. Sebald : a critical companion.
• Chapter Number: 6
• ISBN: 9780295984230
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1679814
• Publisher URL: http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9780748624690