Table Of ContentW. G . S e b a l d
W. G. Sebald
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Image, archive, Modernity
Image, archive, Modernity .
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J. J. Long
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W. G. Sebald is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant writers to a
have emerged onto the global literary scene in recent decades, and is frequently l
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mentioned in the same breath as Nabokov, Kafka, borges, Calvino, Proust, and
Primo levi.
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W. G. Sebald – Image, Archive, Modernity offers a unique and original reading of m
Sebald’s dazzling oeuvre, arguing that his work is concerned first and foremost a
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with the problem of modernity. It focuses in particular on the numerous e
archival institutions and processes that lie at the very heart of modernity and are ,
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repeatedly thematised throughout Sebald’s work. r
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adopting a broad definition of the archive to encompass a wide range of i
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material practices, the book analyses the function of photography, museums, e
libraries, and other systems of knowledge to which Sebald’s texts obsessively , M
return. Following Foucault, such systems are seen as central to the exercise
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of power and the constitution of subjectivity in modernity. by undertaking a d
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differentiated analysis that is attuned to the formal complexities of Sebald’s r
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texts, this book shows that Sebald’s engagement with structures of power- i
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knowledge is characterised by a melancholy struggle to assert autonomous y
selfhood in the face of the institutional and discursive determinants of
subjectivity.
J. J. Long is Professor of German at the University of durham. He is the author
of The Novels of Thomas Bernhard (2001), and co-editor of W. G. Sebald: A Critical J
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Companion (edinburgh University Press and Washington University Press, J.
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2004). He has published widely on twentieth-century literature, and has been a
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recipient of the Max Kade Prize for best essay in Modern Austrian Literature, n
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and a Philip leverhulme Prize (2005). His current research focuses on German
writers and photography from 1918 to the present.
isbn 978 0 7486 3387 6
edinburgh University Press
22 George Square, edinburgh eh8 9lf e
www.eup.ed.ac.uk d J. J. Long
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Cover image: bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photograph by diane asseo Griliches from her book u
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Library: The Drama Within, University of New Mexico Press, 1996. g
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Cover design: barrie Tullett
W. G. SEBALD –
IMAGE, ARCHIVE, MODERNITY
W. G. SEBALD –
IMAGE, ARCHIVE, MODERNITY
J. J. Long
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
© J. J. Long, 2007
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
Typeset in Sabon and Gill Sans
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wilts
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 3387 6 (hardback)
The right of J. J. Long
to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vi
A Note on References and Translations viii
1 Introduction 1
PART I
2 The Collection 27
3 The Photograph 46
4 Discipline 71
PART II
5 Wonder: Vertigo 91
6 Family Albums: The Emigrants 109
7 The Ambulatory Narrative: The Rings of Saturn 130
8 The Archival Subject: Austerlitz 149
9 Conclusion 168
Bibliography 175
Index 202
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In writing this book, I have benefited immensely from an ongoing dialogue with
a large international community of Sebald scholars. In particular, I would like
to thank Anne Fuchs for numerous stimulating exchanges of ideas, and for the
invitation to participate in a Sebald symposium at University College, Dublin.
I have also welcomed the opportunity to present tentative versions of this mate-
rial at conferences in Davidson, Munich, and Sydney, and thank Scott Denham,
Claudia Öhlschläger, Michael Niehaus, and Gerhard Fischer for the invitations.
Thanks are also due to Silke Arnold-de Simine, who generously provided a pre-
publication copy of her essay on the museum in Austerlitz. My colleagues at
Durham have been a constant source of support, encouragement, and exper-
tise. I wish especially to thank Ed Welch and Andrea Noble for their detailed
comments on parts of the draft manuscript, and Nick Saul for conversations
about everything from Romanticism to gypsies.
The University of Durham granted me a term of leave when I needed it most,
and a second term of leave was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research
Council of Great Britain. I am pleased to acknowledge their support here.
Working with Edinburgh University Press has been a pleasure. I am grateful
to Jackie Jones for her enthusiasm for this project, and to James Dale for
guiding the book through the press with wonderful efficiency.
Portions of Chapters 3 and 6 were previously published in an article entitled
‘History, Narrative and Photography in W. G. Sebald’s Die Ausgewanderten’,
Modern Language Review 98 (2003), 118–37, and are reproduced with the
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
permission of the Modern Humanities Research Association. I wish to thank
Theo Collier of the Wylie Agency for his help and advice in securing permis-
sion to reprint copyright material from Sebald’s works. The sources of quota-
tions and images are as follows:
Quotations from Austerlitz
From Austerlitzby W. G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell (Hamish Hamilton,
2001). Copyright © the Estate of W. G. Sebald. Translation copyright © Anthea
Bell.
Excerpted from Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald. Copyright © W. G. Sebald 2001.
Reprinted by permission of Knopf Canada.
From Austerlitzby W. G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Bell, copyright © 2001
by Anthea Bell. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
Figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.5 and 6.1
© W.G. Sebald, from Die Ausgewanderten, first published in Germany by
Eichborn AG, Frankfurt/Main 1993.
Figures 3.1, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2
© W.G. Sebald, from Schwindel. Gefühle, first published in Germany by
Eichborn AG, Frankfurt/Main 1990.
Finally, I owe more gratitude than I can express to Marita who is a wonderful
companion, and to Jacob who is a delightful distraction. It is to them that this
book is lovingly dedicated.
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A NOTE ON REFERENCES AND
TRANSLATIONS
Wherever possible in this study, I have quoted from the published English trans-
lations of Sebald’s work, but page references to the German editions have been
provided for those wishing to consult the original texts. The table below lists
the abbreviations used. Full publication details are given in the bibliography at
the end of the volume.
Abbreviation English Title German Title
A Austerlitz Austerlitz
BU Die Beschreibung des Unglücks
CS Campo Santo Campo Santo
E The Emigrants Die Ausgewanderten
LL Logis in einem Landhaus
NHD On the Natural History Luftkrieg und Literatur
of Destruction
AN After Nature Nach der Natur
RS The Rings of Saturn Die Ringe des Saturn
U Unrecounted Unerzählt
UH Unheimliche Heimat
V Vertigo Schwindel.Gefühle
All page references to the English translation will be given first, then those to
the German edition. So, for example, the reference ‘E 15/24’ means that the
viii
ANOTEONREFERENCESANDTRANSLATIONS
quotation can be found on page 15 of The Emigrants and page 24 of Die
Ausgewanderten.
For other works, published translations have been used wherever possible.
All other translations are my own.
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