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keight's review against another edition
4.0
Translator Iain Galbraith’s introduction is one of the best parts of this book, as it includes “an example … of the difficulty of translating Sebald’s poetry”:
Many of the poems in this volume—which opens with a train journey—reenact travel “across” various kinds of land and water (even if the latter is only the fluid of dreams). Indeed, several, as the writer’s archive reveals, were actually written “on the road,” penned on hotel stationery, menus, the backs of theatre programs, in cities that Sebald visited.
He goes on to talk about a poem titled “Somewhere” that involves a small town called Türkenfeld, which is an area Sebald would have passed through often, yet:
… it is well for a translator to be aware that landscapes in Sebald’s work are rarely as innocent as they seem…. In the metaphorical sense, the poem puts the traveler’s gaze itself at the center of its encounter with a cryptic landscape, exploring the difficulty of inciting a historical topography to return that gaze by divulging its secrets. Many of Sebald’s poems enact the battle of the intellect and senses with the hermetic or repellent face of history’s surface layers. The impression is one of traveling across a land in which the catastrophic events of the twentieth century have left a pattern of shallow graves under the almost pathologically hygienic and tidy upper stratum of civilization. What, then, is “behind” Türkenfeld?
Galbraith finishes by revealing the area’s connections to Dachau and how “[o]ur first unknowing reading of the poem … points to the perilous consequences of our loss of cultural memory.”
Read more on my booklog
Many of the poems in this volume—which opens with a train journey—reenact travel “across” various kinds of land and water (even if the latter is only the fluid of dreams). Indeed, several, as the writer’s archive reveals, were actually written “on the road,” penned on hotel stationery, menus, the backs of theatre programs, in cities that Sebald visited.
He goes on to talk about a poem titled “Somewhere” that involves a small town called Türkenfeld, which is an area Sebald would have passed through often, yet:
… it is well for a translator to be aware that landscapes in Sebald’s work are rarely as innocent as they seem…. In the metaphorical sense, the poem puts the traveler’s gaze itself at the center of its encounter with a cryptic landscape, exploring the difficulty of inciting a historical topography to return that gaze by divulging its secrets. Many of Sebald’s poems enact the battle of the intellect and senses with the hermetic or repellent face of history’s surface layers. The impression is one of traveling across a land in which the catastrophic events of the twentieth century have left a pattern of shallow graves under the almost pathologically hygienic and tidy upper stratum of civilization. What, then, is “behind” Türkenfeld?
Galbraith finishes by revealing the area’s connections to Dachau and how “[o]ur first unknowing reading of the poem … points to the perilous consequences of our loss of cultural memory.”
Read more on my booklog
mjessie's review against another edition
4.0
Sparse, depthy poems that felt fuller in the final two sections ("Across the Land and the Water" and "The Year Before last").
chervbim's review against another edition
5.0
I’m kicking myself for not reading this sooner, given that I’ve owned my copy for a hot minute and have thoroughly enjoyed all of the prose that I’ve read by Sebald before. An absolute delight.
shellyhartner's review
5.0
While not every poem in the collection could be rated five stars on its own, the collection as a whole contained enough of the sublime to rate a five. I found Molkerbastei, a recounting of a visit to Beethoven's house in Vienna, particularly haunting.
partypete's review
3.0
Sebald is one of the finest writers in contemporary literature, and his themes form a bridge between our world and our history. His tremendous intelligence always shines through his work. Yet I feel his talents are best summarized through his longer-form work rather than poetry. These poems form truncated summaries of Sebald’s more expansive thoughts - I think he is most effective when he is able to cascade these ideas through the length of a whole book.
kateofmind's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Sebald's poetry, at least as translated here, is indistinguishable from his prose except in length and typesetting. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- his prose is wonderful. But this still wasn't quite what I'd hoped for, somehow? And a lot of it was kind of impenetrable, alluding to things I can never know; I felt like I was overhearing him mumble autobiographical snippets, half-recalled memories, more so than I usually do when reading poetry.
ironi's review
4.0
I've never heard of this poet. This was a gift from my friend Lior after finishing our army service.
All in all, I found this intriguing. I wish I knew German so that I could read the original because my impression is that it's better.
That said, there are some truly beautiful moments here. I didn't understand a lot but the moments I did, I found wonderful.
what I'm taking with me
~ Some form of serenity.
~ This was fun to read on flights and while waiting in the bank.
~ Uhm, I kinda like poetry
All in all, I found this intriguing. I wish I knew German so that I could read the original because my impression is that it's better.
That said, there are some truly beautiful moments here. I didn't understand a lot but the moments I did, I found wonderful.
what I'm taking with me
~ Some form of serenity.
~ This was fun to read on flights and while waiting in the bank.
~ Uhm, I kinda like poetry
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