by W. G. Sebald
First published 2013
This collection gathers poems W. G. Sebald wrote from his student years in the 1960s through 2001, the year of his death. Iain Galbraith translates these works that reveal Sebald's poetic voice alongside his celebrated prose. The verses explore nature and history, tracing how war fractures the world's order and sends pain spreading like constellations across upturned leaves. Sebald writes of wandering through foreign places and speaking in unfamiliar tongues, becoming a nomad even in his own town. Memory threads through these poems as both blessing and burden. The speaker reflects on how even intimate knowledge of the heart cannot capture the ache that happy recollections bring. Eighty-eight poems appear in English for the first time, joined by thirty-three pieces from unpublished manuscripts and all the verse Sebald published during his lifetime. The collection spans nearly forty years of work, offering readers access to the lyrical dimension of a writer known primarily for his innovative prose about World War II and its aftermath.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, poetry, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: nomad, reflection
Setting: Germany
Period: 1960s, 2001
192 pages · Paperback · Random House Publishing Group