Ghostwriting : W. G. Sebald’s Poetics of History

__Ghostwriting__ provides the first comprehensive analysis of the fictional prose narratives of one of contemporary Germany's most recognized authors, the émigré writer W. G. Sebald. Examining Sebald's well-known published texts in the context of largely unknown unpublished works, and informed by documents and information from Sebald's literary estate, this book offers a detailed portrait of his characteristic literary techniques and how they emerged and matured out of the practices and attitudes he represented in his profession as a literary scholar. The title “Ghostwriting” signals the convergence in Sebald's works of a set of diverse historical questions, philosophical views, and literary practices. Many historical ghosts haunt Sebald's narratives on the level of story. Moreover, Sebald's narrator plays the role of a ghostwriter in the profound sense that his stories fictionally re-enact the histories of obscure, but once-living individuals whose lives they revitalize, and whose fates are tied up with the most virulent historical conjunctures of the modern world. This study thus seeks to comprehend the constitutive elements of Sebald's “poetics of history,” his implementation of literary tools for effective historical memorializing. Cover Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Sebald’s Literary Séance 1. Wittgenstein’s Ghost: Toward Understanding Sebald’s Literary Turn 2. The Birth of the Prose Fictionalizer from the Spirit of Biographical Criticism: Schwindel. Gefühle Envisioning Fiction(s) A Text with a View: Imaginative and Visual Experiments in “Beyle oder das merckwürdige Faktum der Liebe” After Kafka: The Transition from Literary Criticism to Literature in “Dr. K.s Badereise nach Riva” Gracchus/Sebald: The Undead Revenant as Ghostly Writer 3. Sebald’s Literary Refinement: “Dr. Henry Selwyn” and Its Textual Predecessor 4. Neither Here Nor There: Exile as Dis-Placement in “Dr. Henry Selwyn” 5. Sebald’s Ectopia: Homelessness and Alienated Heritage in “Max Aurach”/“Max Ferber” Contemplating Heritage as Hidden History Modernity and the Breach with Heritage Exploring Herkunft in “Max Aurach” Exile and Loss of Home in the Embedded Story of Luisa Lanzberg Sebald’s Narrator as Parsifal Figure The (Self-)Transformation of Sebald’s Narrator Max Aurach as Exile by Choice? Aurach’s Art as Deconstructive Representation of Ancestral Ghosts Art as Besinnung auf Herkunft (Commemoration of Heritage) 6. Fabulation and Metahistory: W. G. Sebald and the Problematic of Contemporary (German) Holocaust Fiction Fabulation and Metahistory The Complex Problematic of Holocaust Fiction German-Language Holocaust Fiction Holocaust Documentary as the Wedding of History and Metafiction 7. Sebald’s Segues: Performing Narrative Contingency in Die Ringe des Saturn 8. Writing at the Roche Limit: Order and Entropy in Die Ringe des Saturn The Roche Limit, Oppositional Forces, and Historical Preservation Grids, Vanishing Points, and Sebald’s Critique of Visual-Representational Orders 9. Narrating Environmental Catastrophe: Ecopsychology and Ecological Apocalypse in Sebald’s Corsica Project The Corsica Project in Sebald’s Oeuvre Why Corsica? Ecopsychology and Self-Critique Witnessing and Testifying to Human Self-Imposed Exile from Nature Sebald and the Principles of Ecopsychology Literary Intertexts: Exploring the Psychology of Violence Against Nature Historical Intertexts: Documenting Environmental Loss Narrating the Apocalypse of Environmental Catastrophe Bibliography Index "Ghostwriting provides the first comprehensive analysis of the fictional prose narratives of one of contemporary Germany's most recognized authors, the émigré writer W. G. Sebald. Examining Sebald's well-known published texts in the context of largely unknown unpublished works, and informed by documents and information from Sebald's literary estate, this book offers a detailed portrait of his characteristic literary techniques and how they emerged and matured out of the practices and attitudes he represented in his profession as a literary scholar. The title "Ghostwriting" signals the convergence in Sebald's works of a set of diverse historical questions, philosophical views, and literary practices. Many historical ghosts haunt Sebald's narratives on the level of story. Moreover, Sebald's narrator plays the role of a ghostwriter in the profound sense that his stories fictionally re-enact the histories of obscure, but once-living individuals whose lives they revitalize, and whose fates are tied up with the most virulent historical conjunctures of the modern world. This study thus seeks to comprehend the constitutive elements of Sebald's "poetics of history," his implementation of literary tools for effective historical memorializing"--Bloomsbury Publishing. "A comprehensive study of W. G. Sebald's prose fictions, including published and unpublished works, with a focus on the genetic development of his artistic practices and their relationship to his interests in history, memory, and exile"--Bloomsbury Publishing. "Ghostwriting provides the first comprehensive analysis of the fictional prose narratives of one of contemporary Germany's most recognized authors, the émigré writer W.G. Sebald. Examining Sebald's well-known published texts in the context of largely unknown unpublished works, and informed by documents and information from Sebald's literary estate, this book offers a detailed portrait of his characteristic literary techniques and how they emerged and matured out of the practices and attitudes he represented in his profession as a literary scholar. The title "Ghostwriting" signals the convergence in Sebald's works of a set of diverse historical questions, philosophical views, and literary practices. Many historical ghosts haunt Sebald's narratives on the level of story. Moreover, Sebald's narrator plays the role of a ghostwriter in the profound sense that his stories fictionally re-enact the histories of obscure, but once-living individuals whose lives they revitalize, and whose fates are tied up with the most virulent historical conjunctures of the modern world. This study thus seeks to comprehend the constitutive elements of Sebald's "poetics of history," his implementation of literary tools for effective historical memorializing"-- Provided by publisher "A comprehensive study of W.G. Sebald's prose fictions, including published and unpublished works, with a focus on the genetic development of his artistic practices and their relationship to his interests in history, memory, and exile"-- Provided by publisher