In this time, Sebald’s rise in the literary pantheon had been unparalleled and so his early death, from an aneurism whilst driving in Norfolk on the 14th of December 2001, cut short a career that clearly had a great deal still to give. In spite of publications of previous essays and poetry collections since, Sebald’s literary life was arguably bookended by Austerlitz (2001), his first book to be published initially English before the German translation, and with a sizeable book deal this time around. Times Book Prize and Sebald found himself revered, seemingly much to his own horror, during his own lifetime. It was followed in German by The Emigrants (1992) and The Rings of Saturn (1995) whose eventual English translations, in 19 respectively, garnered critical appreciation.
His first novel, Vertigo, was published in German in 1990 though wasn’t translated into English until almost a decade later. Though publishing late in life, Sebald’s writing career was unprecedented in its rise. There’s a reason why their yearly lecture is named in his honour. He became a Professor and the chair of European Literature, as well as founding the pivotal British Centre for Literary Translation. Aside from a handful of brief stints abroad, he settled in Norfolk, working his way up the academic ladder at the University of East Anglia. In the mid 1960s, he travelled to England where he first taught at the University of Manchester. He studied English and German literature in Germany and Switzerland. Winfried Georg Maximilian Sebald, or “Max” to his friends, was born in the Bavarian Alps in 1944. Yet what do these exhibitions say about Sebald as a writer, not simply in terms of the very process of writing that marked his four main novels, but in regards to the resonances of his themes today? Sebald: Far Away – But From Where? at The Sainsbury Centre – shine a light on his complex and deeply layered work.
Sebald’s East Anglia at Norwich Castle and W.G.
With what would have been his 75th birthday on the 18th of May this year, two exhibitions in Norwich – Lines of Sight: W.G. In a brief but successful literary career, the German-born, East Anglia-based writer quickly rose to prominence, influencing an array of writers and artists.
It seems as apt a statement as any to introduce his work. Sebald’s characters in his novel, Vertigo (1990). “Tiny details imperceptible to us decide everything!” suggests one of W.G.
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