As oblique as W.G.(Max)Sebald 

Winfried Georg Sebald, or Max as he was preferred to be called as he disliked his first name, was an extraordinary writer of immense talent. His unique, winding prose set itself apart from other writers of his time. He would author his work first in German (his native language) and then work closely with his English translators to transcribe and edit the prose. 

As Eric Homberger notes, writing in the Guardian obituary, 

"It was necessary, he found, to approach this subject obliquely, and to invent a new literary form, part hybrid novel, part memoir and part travelogue, often involving the experiences of one "WG Sebald", a German writer long settled in East Anglia."

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/17/guardianobituaries.books1 



Sebald died at the age of 57 five years after his work was beginning to gain international literary recognition. 'Austerlitz', published in 2001 shortly before his untimely death, was received with universal acclaim. His character Austerlitz recounts his story of his Jewish heritage and his adoptive homeland after being sent to England through the Kindertransporte in 1939. Austerlitz struggles with his identity as he has lost memory of his past through time. Sebald's haunting prose obliquely traverses fact and fiction. Readers are disorientated and unsure of what is real and what is narrative fictitious device. Sebald was a keen photographer and used  imagery within his novels. These enigmatic, grainy, black and white images interspersed amongst the text had implied suggestive meaning rather than direct illustration. They were, nonetheless, complementary to text and provided additional layering to the rambling tale.  

I was encouraged to read this book and I am thankful for this introduction. I admire Sebald's narrative style and his talent for evoking memory on a collective level whilst acknowledging important socio-political themes within this intelligent fictional memoir. His writing has inspired me to develop my own fictional writing for use within my artworks. I will draw further on the personal histories of my ancestors and excavate the wider social issues of their time to enhance the thematic enquiry within my practice. 

I am now reading Sebald's exquisite poetry which expertly mixes forms much like his prose. My favourite composition so far is....

Feelings 

my friend

wrote Schumann

are stars

which guide us

only under 

a dark sky