W. G. Sebald Quotes

W. G. Sebald
German Writer
Born: May 18, 1944
Died: Dec 14, 2001
Always Memory People Time Writing You
Related authors: Anne Frank Erich Auerbach Erich Maria Remarque Heinrich Boll Ludwig Borne Michael Ende Thomas Mann Walter Anderson
I've always felt that the traditional novel doesn't give you enough information about the narrator, and I think it's important to know the point of view from which these tales are told: the moral makeup of the teller. W. G. Sebald
You Important Think Enough Teller Moral About Give Point Point Of View Tales Know Felt Makeup Always Narrator Traditional Information Which View Novel
Unlike Conrad or Nabokov, I didn't have circumstances which would have coerced me out of my native tongue altogether. W. G. Sebald
Me Unlike Circumstances Out Would Altogether Native Which Tongue
In the history of postwar German writing, for the first 15 or 20 years, people avoided mentioning political persecution - the incarceration and systematic extermination of whole peoples and groups in society. Then, from 1965, this became a preoccupation of writers - not always in an acceptable form. W. G. Sebald
History People Writing Political First Society Systematic Postwar Writers Acceptable Became Always Years Persecution German The History Of Form Then Incarceration Avoided Preoccupation Whole Groups Extermination
It must be extremely uncomfortable to live with a writer - all that preoccupation and brooding. W. G. Sebald
Live Extremely Must Brooding Uncomfortable Writer Preoccupation
If you're based in two places, on a bad day you see only the disadvantages everywhere. On a bad day, returning to Germany brings back all kinds of spectres from the past. W. G. Sebald
Day You Bad Day Past Back Everywhere Bad Kinds See Only Disadvantages Returning Germany Places Based Brings Two
England is not very easy to get in and out of. W. G. Sebald
Out Easy Very Get England
My father was not really a presence for me. He was away; he was in the German army. W. G. Sebald
Me Army Father He German Really Away Presence
I cannot get over the fact that I was born in 1944. I want to find out as much as I can about that year. W. G. Sebald
Year Out Find Born About Fact Over Get Want Cannot Much
My texts are written like palimpsests. They are written over and over again, until I feel that a kind of metaphysical meaning can be read through the writing. W. G. Sebald
Writing Kind Through Written Feel Over Like Until Read Metaphysical Texts Again Meaning
Mine is a European imagination, shaped largely by my very promiscuous reading in German, French, English and, with greater difficulty, Italian. W. G. Sebald
Reading Imagination Difficulty Mine Promiscuous Shaped French Greater Italian German Very English European Largely
It is a sore point, because you do have advantages if you have access to more than one language. You also have problems, because on bad days you don't trust yourself, either in your first or your second language, and so you feel like a complete halfwit. W. G. Sebald
You Trust Yourself Problems Language First Complete Bad Bad Days More Point Advantages Feel Days Like Also Sore Because Access Than Either Your Second
I've always been interested in photographs, collecting them not systematically but randomly. They get lost, then turn up again. W. G. Sebald
Lost Randomly Systematically Collecting Photographs Always Been Up Get Again Interested Them Turn Then
Where I grew up, in a remote village at the back of a valley, the old still thought the dead needed attending to - a notion so universal, it's enscribed in all religions. If you didn't, they might exact revenge upon the living. W. G. Sebald
You Revenge Old Thought Living Back Valley All Religions Exact Religions Attending Remote Dead Still Up Where Grew Might Notion Village Universal Needed
Although I hold a German passport, I feel very much alienated when I'm there. W. G. Sebald
Alienated Feel Although Passport German Very Hold Much
I came from anonymity, and I will continue to write as a private pursuit. W. G. Sebald
Will Pursuit Write Anonymity Came Private Continue
The moral backbone of literature is about that whole question of memory. To my mind it seems clear that those who have no memory have the much greater chance to lead happy lives. W. G. Sebald
Happy Memory Mind Backbone Those Moral About Seems No Memory Lead Clear Greater Question Literature Much Who Whole Lives Chance
Places seem to me to have some kind of memory, in that they activate memory in those who look at them. W. G. Sebald
Me Memory Those Kind Some Seem Look Places Them Who Activate
I always read the translator's draft all the way through - a very laborious business. W. G. Sebald
Business Way Through Read Always Very Laborious Translator Draft
Occasionally I write a small piece or the odd lecture in English, and I teach in English, but my fiction is always written in German. W. G. Sebald
Small Write Small Piece Written Piece Occasionally Always Odd Lecture German Fiction Teach English

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