The Rings of Saturn [Hardcover]

The book is like a dream you want to last? translation from the German seems little short? of miraculous. The book is so natural and? accessible, and yet so odd, that one is left? enchanted and also curious about the author, who presents such a prodigious mass of material in? such a modest and engaging way. As you read? along, and as you become an active participant? in the unfolding of this book.This German who has lived in England for over thirty years is one of the most mysteriously sublime of contemporary writers. . . . And here, inSebald has been writing what I give the unpromising name thedocumentary novel, in which subject matter becomes character. A futurecritic with considerably more time and space will find Anglia. Seenfrom above, his footsteps will describe, like the good detective he is,the outline of a body that has many times been ferried away, the bodywe call civilization. From these fading contours left upon the land, weLilliputians are left to ponder the shape of what came yesterday, orcenturies before. to such puzzling terrain, is indispensable.Sebald depicts a landscape that is fascinating and disturbing, a worldwhose minute differences from the actual is a bit of virtuoso reality.If I might be so bold as to sum up his work in one sentence, it isthis: Time always wins, but offers as a consolation and booby prize,Memory. Thus the futility of existence is partially erased by both thegrandeur and inability of our imaginations. We can dream. And somewherein those dreams, reality is defeated.He is the most hypnotic and exhilarating author. Lyrical and genius. No one like him.Like his much praised novelAs he did so brilliantly in[A]lways clear and presentalways ringing true, not necessarily comfortable but not easily forgotten.[A]n extraordinary palimpsest of nature, human, and literary history.One of 'Five Best [of the year].' Historical fiction of the first rank.It is full of wonderfully rendered scenes&. Full of insight and beautyl“µ