Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by farah_esther
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
5.0
This book is a masterpiece , starts off at the Antwerp railway station in Antwerp,and uses architecturally monumental buildings and places as the defining concept and draws parallel to the monumental happenings of one’s own life witnessed by these architectural marvels.The main character resists the power of time , and feels it has robbed him of his past , and swallowed up a vital part of his life , just like the many architectural building have seen and swallowed so much of the passing life of humans .
Lines from the book :
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“”As I now think , said Austerlitz , that time will not pass away , has not passed away that I can turn back and go behind it , and there I shall find everything as it once was “
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
What I find intriguing is Austerlitz blames time for robbing him of his past , but he then commits the same crime by robbing his present time and future by letting the trauma of his past have a tight grip on him constantly .
He also seems to take no effort to move forward and becomes a prisoner of his past .
I do have to admit it is so noble of him to search for his roots and go back in time to establish his identity …but I wish he did it without completely loosing himself in the process .
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“I always found what Alphonso told us at that time about the life and death of moths especially memorable and of all the creatures I still feel the greatest awe for them .
In the warmer months of the year one or other of these nocturnal inspects quite often stray indoors from the garden behind my house .
When I get up early in the morning , I find them clinging to the wall motionless .
I believe , said Austerlitz they know they have lost their way , since if you do not put them out again carefully they will stay where they are ,
Never moving , until the last breadth is out of their bodies , and indeed they will remain in the place where they came to grief even after death held fast by the tiny claws that stiffened in their last agony ,until a fraught of air detached them and blows them into a dusty corner .”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Clearly, Austerlitz was a very intelligent man .He observed he was showing the life patterns of a moth in his own life , He knew he needed someone to carefully help him find his way again like the moth .
The double tragedy of his childhood was ,he ends up getting adopted by someone who taught him fanatism and not faith , who taught about mortality and not about the immortal God , who taught him about judgement of sins but not the remission of sins , who taught him about death and not the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting ..
The parallel between his life and the life of biblical character Moses is striking , both are holocaust babies , very similar beginning's but very dissimilar ends , one goes on to save himself and all his country men .
Lines from the book :
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“”As I now think , said Austerlitz , that time will not pass away , has not passed away that I can turn back and go behind it , and there I shall find everything as it once was “
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
What I find intriguing is Austerlitz blames time for robbing him of his past , but he then commits the same crime by robbing his present time and future by letting the trauma of his past have a tight grip on him constantly .
He also seems to take no effort to move forward and becomes a prisoner of his past .
I do have to admit it is so noble of him to search for his roots and go back in time to establish his identity …but I wish he did it without completely loosing himself in the process .
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“I always found what Alphonso told us at that time about the life and death of moths especially memorable and of all the creatures I still feel the greatest awe for them .
In the warmer months of the year one or other of these nocturnal inspects quite often stray indoors from the garden behind my house .
When I get up early in the morning , I find them clinging to the wall motionless .
I believe , said Austerlitz they know they have lost their way , since if you do not put them out again carefully they will stay where they are ,
Never moving , until the last breadth is out of their bodies , and indeed they will remain in the place where they came to grief even after death held fast by the tiny claws that stiffened in their last agony ,until a fraught of air detached them and blows them into a dusty corner .”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Clearly, Austerlitz was a very intelligent man .He observed he was showing the life patterns of a moth in his own life , He knew he needed someone to carefully help him find his way again like the moth .
The double tragedy of his childhood was ,he ends up getting adopted by someone who taught him fanatism and not faith , who taught about mortality and not about the immortal God , who taught him about judgement of sins but not the remission of sins , who taught him about death and not the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting ..
The parallel between his life and the life of biblical character Moses is striking , both are holocaust babies , very similar beginning's but very dissimilar ends , one goes on to save himself and all his country men .