Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
"Austerlitz" by W. G. Sebald is a poignant novel exploring themes of memory, identity, and the impact of history through the life of its eponymous character, Jacques Austerlitz. The narrative unfolds during the 1960s, when an academic narrator encounters Austerlitz, an architectural historian, while traveling in Belgium. Their conversations delve into Belgian architecture and hint at Austerlitz's deeper, unresolved quest for his origins. Raised under the care of a Calvinist preacher and later attending a boarding school, Austerlitz's childhood is marked by a sense of estrangement and loss, particularly as he grapples with the revelation of his true identity.
As the story progresses, Austerlitz embarks on a journey to uncover his family's past, which is intertwined with the tragedies of World War II. He learns about his mother’s fate in a concentration camp and seeks to connect with his estranged father in Paris. The novel intricately weaves Austerlitz’s personal history with broader historical narratives, prompting reflections on displacement, the role of memory, and the scars left by war. Sebald's unique narrative style combines elements of fiction, autobiography, and history, offering readers a profound meditation on the enduring effects of trauma and the search for belonging in a fragmented world.
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Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
- Born: May 18, 1944
- Birthplace: Wertach im Allgäu, Germany
- Died: December 14, 2001
- Place of death: Norwich, Norfolk, England
First published: 2001 (English translation, 2001)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical
Time of plot: 1939 to late 1990s
Locale: Antwerp, Belgium; Paris, France; Bala, Wales; Prague and Terezín, Czechoslovakia; London, England
Principal Characters
Jacques Austerlitz, an architectural historian who is searching for his past
André Hilary, a teacher at his boarding school
Vera Ryšanová, a woman who cared for him in his youth
The narrator, an academic who makes his acquaintance
The Story
During the 1960s, the narrator travels to Belgium from England for academic research. He decides to stop and see the nocturnal animals at a zoo in Antwerp. Returning to the train station, he sees a man, Austerlitz, taking notes. The two begin an easy conversation that lasts for hours; Austerlitz shares a wealth of information on the history of Belgian architecture and politics, including the fortresses around Antwerp.
The next day, the narrator hopes to run into Austerlitz again but decides to visit one of the fortresses instead. Several days later, in another small Belgian city, he sees Austerlitz at a bar and, several months later, again encounters Austerlitz in Brussels. Whenever they meet, the two fall back into long conversations about architecture. Eventually, Austerlitz mentions that he works at a university in London.
The narrator’s travels take him to London, and he regularly visits Austerlitz, who researches railway stations. Eventually, the narrator, who was born in Germany, moves to Munich. The narrator writes letters to Austerlitz, but twenty years pass without response. He then runs into his old friend on a trip to London to see an ophthalmologist. Austerlitz says that he is happy they have met again, for he has decided he must tell someone his life story, and the man has always been a wonderful listener.
Austerlitz says that he never knew his origins. He grew up in a country town in Wales, raised by Emyr Elias, a Calvinist preacher, and his quiet English wife, Gwendolyn. He was very unhappy then and often tried to recall his early childhood before this couple adopted him. The Eliases were very secluded from the world and did not even mention World War II, which violently continued elsewhere. Eventually Gwendolyn fell ill, and Austerlitz was sent to a private school, Stower Grange, at the age of twelve.
Although the children were often cruel at Stower Grange, the school offered happiness and freedom to Austerlitz, and his skill at rugby made him popular. When he returned home over the winter, Gwendolyn died, and by the next summer, the minister was so overcome by sadness he could barely preach. He was put into a mental hospital, and Austerlitz became the responsibility of the school.
The headmaster, Mr. Penrith-Smith, then told Austerlitz that his real name was Jacques Austerlitz, not Dafydd Elias, as he was called by the Eliases. Although he did not recognize the word "Austerlitz," a history professor he admired, André Hilary, specialized in the Battle of Austerlitz (1805). Hilary’s interest and Austerlitz’s curiosity about his name spark his interest in history.
After several years, Austerlitz was assigned a younger boy, Gerald Fitzpatrick, as his personal assistant, and the two became friends. Gerald’s family took in Austerlitz, and he began to spend idyllic breaks at their gorgeous country home, where Gerald’s great-uncle Alphonso got him interested in the beauty of moths.
Austerlitz and the narrator part ways for the night and meet the next day to take photos of the Royal Observatory. Austerlitz explains that he has always felt outside of time. He recalls his last visit to see Gerald’s family for the double funeral of the older uncles. He also describes Gerald’s own life, including how his interest in birds led to a career as an astrophysicist and his eventual death in a plane crash.
Several months later, the narrator visits Austerlitz’s London house, which is filled with photographs. Austerlitz tells of his long days exploring train stations and a nervous breakdown he suffered, during which he threw his writing into a compost heap. Finally, after a year of recovering from the breakdown, he heard a woman on the radio talking about her experience on the children’s transport, the trains that took children to safety from the Nazis. Her story made Austerlitz recall that he was also on those trains.
He went to Prague and eventually met Vera Ryšanová, his former nanny. His memory came back to him vividly, and Vera told him that Austerlitz’s mother, Agáta Austerlitz, was sent to Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto and then further east, presumably to a concentration camp, while his father, Maximilian Aychenwald, escaped to Paris. He also learned that his mother was an opera singer. Austerlitz visited Terezín and felt like he was encountering the violence of his past for the first time. He had a similar experience when he took a train through Germany, retracing his childhood route.
As Austerlitz and the narrator walk through a cemetery in London, Austerlitz describes how, following another mental breakdown, he was finally able to read about Theresienstadt. While learning of the horrors that took place in the camp, he also learned that the Nazis made a propaganda film there, and Austerlitz tracked down an excerpt from the tape, hoping to see his mother. He brought an image he hoped to be of his mother to Vera, but she said it was inaccurate. They instead found a photograph in the Prague theatrical archives that she believed was of his mother. Austerlitz gives a copy of the image to the narrator and then announces that he is going to Paris to search for his father.
The narrator receives a postcard with Austerlitz’s Paris address and visits him. Austerlitz says he has had no luck finding his father, and he struggles to navigate the bureaucracy of the Paris libraries. When the narrator and Austerlitz meet for coffee, however, Austerlitz says he has received new information about his father, and he plans to depart Paris immediately to continue his investigation into his father’s fate.
On his return home from Paris, the narrator decides to stop in Antwerp, revisiting the nocturnal animals at the zoo, and reads a book on architecture that Austerlitz had given him.
Bibliography
Dubow, Jessica, and Richard Steadman-Jones. "Mapping Babel: Language and Exile in W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz." New German Critique 115 (2012): 3–26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 May 2014.
Modlinger, Martin. "‘Mein Wahrer Arbeitsplatz’: The Role of Theresienstadt in W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz." German Life & Letters 65.3 (2012): 344–62. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=76457699&site=ehost-live>.
Straus, Nina Pelikan. "Sebald, Wittgenstein, and the Ethics of Memory." Comparative Literature 61.1 (2009): 43–53. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=37215574&site=ehost-live>.
Wilson, Mary Griffin. "Sheets of Past: Reading the Image in W. G. Sebald’s "Austerlitz." Contemporary Literature 54.1 (2013): 49–76. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=88045381&site=ehost-live>.