Winfried Georg Maximilian Sebald (1944~2001)
-Sebald’s works are largely concerned with the theme of memory, both personal and collective. They are in particular attempts to reconcile himself with, and deal in literary terms with, the trauma of the Second World War and its effect on the German people. In On the Natural History of Destruction (1997) he wrote a major essay on the wartime bombing of German cities, and the absence in German writing of any real response. His concern with the Holocaust is expressed in several books delicately tracing his own biographical connections with Jews.
His distinctive and innovative novels were written in German, but are well-known in English translations, principally by Anthea Bell and Michael Hulse, which he supervised closely. They include Austerlitz, The Rings of Saturn, The Emigrants, and Vertigo. They are notable for their curious and wide-ranging mixture of fact (or apparent fact), recollection and fiction, often punctuated by indistinct black-and-white photographs, which are set in evocative counterpoint to the narrative rather than illustrating it directly. All of his novels are presented as observations and recollections made by Sebald while travelling around parts of Europe. They include a dry, mischievous sense of humour.
Sebald is also the author of three books of poetry: For Years Now (2001), After Nature (1998), and Unrecounted (2004).-wiki

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<私>はイギリス南東部を徒歩で旅し、過去何世紀にもわたる様々な破壊の跡を目にした。海辺で、資料館で、<私>の連想は、帝国主義時代のオランダの過去、ワーテルローの戦場跡を訪れた記憶、バルカン半島における虐殺の歴史、アフリカ大陸でのベルギーの搾取や略奪などへと続いていく。
<私>は旅先で多くの人びとと出会い、過去の様々な人びとを想起し、その生涯を辿る。コンゴで植民地主義の狂気を目の当たりにし、『闇の奥』を書いたコンラッド、「理想の国民」たる蚕を偏愛した西太后、フランス革命前後の激動をくぐり抜け、回想録『墓のかなたから』を書いたシャトーブリアン……。
最後に<私>は、中国からヨーロッパにもたらされ、各国で国家事業として育成された養蚕に思いをはせる。養蚕を国家意識高揚に結びつける企図は、百年後ナチによっても鼓舞されていた……。
思索や連想の糸がたぐられ、ヨーロッパ帝国主義による破壊と自然がもたらした災厄、古今の文人たちの生涯を辿っていく。誰も振り返らない往古の出来事、忘れられた廃墟が、時空を超えて呼び戻される。境界がなく、脱線と反復を真骨頂とする、ゼーバルト独自の世界。解説=柴田元幸ーamazon