W.G. Sebald completed this extraordinary and important -- and already controversial -- book before his untimely death in December 2001. On the Natural History of Destruction is W.G. Sebald's harrowing and precise investigation of one of the least examined "silences" of our time. In it, the acclaimed novelist examines the devastation of German cities by Allied bombardment, and the reasons for the astonishing absence of this unprecedented trauma from German history and culture. This void in history is in part a repression of things -- such as the death by fire of the city of Hamburg at the hands of the RAF -- too terrible to bear. But rather than record the crises about them, writers sought to retrospectively justify their actions under the Nazis. For Sebald, this is an example of deliberate cultural amnesia; his analysis of its effects in and outside Germany has already provoked angry and painful debate. Sebald's incomparable novels are rooted in meticulous observation; his essays are novelistic. They include his childhood recollections of the war that spurred his horror at the collective amnesia around him. There are moments of black humour and, throughout, the unmatched sensitivity of Sebald's intelligence. This book is a vital study of suffering and forgetting, of the morality hidden in artistic decisions, and of both compromised and genuine heroics.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0375504842
ISBN-13
9780375504846
eBay Product ID (ePID)
2313454
Product Key Features
Book Title
On The Natural History of Destruction
Author
W. G. Sebald
Original Language
German
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
European / German, Military / World War II, Subjects & Themes / Historical events, Military / Aviation
Publication Year
2003
Genre
Literary Criticism, History
Number of Pages
224 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
8.2in
Item Height
0.9in
Item Width
5.3in
Item Weight
12.6 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
Pt405.S4313 2003
Reviews
"Most writers, even good ones, write of what can be written; and move by their own angles into the discourse of their day. The very greatest write of what cannot be written; gravitating not toward the discourse but toward the silence. They break it, like the crust on untrodden snow. I think of [Anna] Akhmatova and Primo Levi, for example, and of W. G. Sebald, who died in 2001." -Richard Eder, The New York Times Book Review "Sebald is the real thing. . . . Sublime." -The Globe and Mail