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A review by tdbrwn
After Nature by Michael Hamburger, W.G. Sebald
Barring a few exceptions, I don’t get on well with poetry, not to mention poetry in translation. (Why? Perhaps a lack of serious trying. More plausibly, brainrot from too much academic reading and the internet.) Poetic prose: “yes please”. Line breaks: “no thanks”. However, I wanted to give this early Sebald poem-thing a try. I expected it to be interesting but unenjoyable; to be filed under “try again later”.
My expectations were met but partially exceeded. The book is a triptych of long-ish poems, all in the typical Sebald mould: a kind of biography of the painter Grünewald; a kind of travelogue of a historical scientific expedition; and a kind of autobiographical piece. All of them are based around preoccupations that occur throughout Sebald’s prose works: travel, obscure histories, melancholy, persecution, order and coincidence.
The purpose to which these themes are put is more opaque than in his prose works. Because of this, and because of the line breaks, I was able to appreciate the descriptive language in a different way. There were, however, obvious subtleties that still went over my head. As such, the book will definitely be filed under “try again later”. But it was enjoyable and I am now looking forward to dipping into Sebald’s shorter poetry.
My expectations were met but partially exceeded. The book is a triptych of long-ish poems, all in the typical Sebald mould: a kind of biography of the painter Grünewald; a kind of travelogue of a historical scientific expedition; and a kind of autobiographical piece. All of them are based around preoccupations that occur throughout Sebald’s prose works: travel, obscure histories, melancholy, persecution, order and coincidence.
The purpose to which these themes are put is more opaque than in his prose works. Because of this, and because of the line breaks, I was able to appreciate the descriptive language in a different way. There were, however, obvious subtleties that still went over my head. As such, the book will definitely be filed under “try again later”. But it was enjoyable and I am now looking forward to dipping into Sebald’s shorter poetry.