"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Monday, August 22, 2022

Vertigo (W.G. Sebald, 1990)

(263 pages)

This is an odd book.  Saw a review that sounded interesting; enjoyed reading it; but I don't know what to make of it.  

Starts with an episode from the Napoleonic wars - the invasion into northern Italy in 1800.  One of the French soldiers has experiences there. These are reflected back on, amplified, re-examined over the years.

Makes me think of Proust - role of memory, how memory works; in-depth local history; comparisons to art works. 

Makes me think of Kafka - the foregoing with the surreal elements.

A character returns to an isolated small town home after decades away living in cities - some of this resonated with me.  The local details, the knowledge of everyone living there.

Overlapping looks at Marengo, visits between Austria and various sites in northern Italy, etc - made me think of the approach used by the authors of very-recently read books: The Alexandria Quartet, Trust.

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