Just before his tragic death in a car crash in December 2001, aged
only 57, German-born writer W G Sebald gave a rare interview at
London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. During this final public appearance,
he spoke of his frustration at the refusal of his countrymen to
discuss, or even acknowledge, the terrible events that unfolded
before his birth in 1944. This 'conspiracy of silence' shaped not
only his childhood, but also his entire literary output. The
Emigrants, first published in Germany in 1993 and now reissued by
Vintage, typifies Sebald's oblique approach to the problem, which
became a major preoccupation for him during his 20s. The book
explores the lives of four Jewish men, each exiled from his
homeland, and each suffering the accompanying sense of loss and
desolation. Sebald paints a compassionate and moving portrait of
these men in four self-contained sections that combine to form a
sober, thought-provoking whole. A sense of foreboding overshadows
each new narrative, a foreboding that is fully justified as events
move inexorably towards a tragic conclusion. Each man could easily
have been the subject of an entire book; instead, we are only
offered a tantalizingly brief glimpse of them. But Sebald's elegant
and dignified prose, with its detailed and poetic descriptions,
interspersed with occasional flashes of humour, carries the book
through. Sebald's writing was always combined with a passion for
photographs, and The Emigrants is peppered with black-and-white
images, carefully selected and uncaptioned, their relevance obvious
from the surrounding text. As a literary device, it works well.
Sebald's concerns about the futility of war, and the far-reaching
consequences that can spread across generations, have resulted in a
book that is a salutary lesson for us all. It is simple, stylish
and utterly compelling. (Kirkus UK)
At first The Emigrants appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish émigrés in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald's precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to work its magic, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile and loss.
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