After Sebald: Essays and Illuminations

A collection of essays and other texts by eleven internationally acclaimed writers, critics and artists.

Over a decade after his death W.G. Sebald remains a major presence in world literature. He has a devoted readership in many different countries. This lively and accessible collection offers a series of different illuminations on why Sebalds work continues to fascinate. Follow Ali Smith as she gets loosed in the translation of his work. Discover with Robert Macfarlane the arguments for and against Sebalds reputation. Find out from Will Self why British readers might find him a good German. Think with John Coetzee about the recurrent psychological crisis that haunts Sebalds imagination. These are just a few of the many discoveries, insights, and imaginative responses that this collection offers its readers. This is the book that readers of Sebald, new or old, need to take with them as they journey through his work. It speaks of and to the different experiences involved in reading Sebald, whether responding to the relation between word and image, or the question of what can and cannot be remembered, or the resonant character of voice and voices, or the strange networks and connections that make up Sebalds texts. And then there are personal memories by Tess Jaray of working with Sebald, Tacita Dean's own version of Sebaldian connectedness and an enigmatic memorial by Richard Long.

The book is edited and has an introduction by Jon Cook, a Professor of Literature and Director of the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts at the University of East Anglia, who was for a number of years a friend and colleague of W.G. Sebald.