Silent Catastrophes - W. G. Sebald, Penguin Books Ltd

‘A profoundly affirming book about the potential for literature . . .One of the few essential writers of this generation’ The ScotsmanFrom acclaimed critic, novelist and academic W. G. Sebald, author of Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, a collection of essay on the Austrian writers who inspired himAppearing for the first time in English, Silent Catastrophes brings together W.&amp,nbsp,G. Sebald’s essays on the Austrian writers who meant so much to him. The evolution of Austria from vast empire to diminutive Alpine republic, followed by its annexation by Nazi Germany, had a profound traumatic impact on the literary output of the nation.Essays on the writings of Kafka, Handke, Bernhard and more, explore the concepts of ‘home/land’, ‘borderland’ and ‘exile’ with deep compassion and insight. A revelation to Sebald’s English-language readers, Silent Catastrophes traces many of the themes which animate Sebald’s own work and illuminates how melancholy – the contemplation of disaster in progress – is itself a form of resistance. ‘One of Europe’s most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations’ Evening Standard