Tuesday, March 10, 2009

WG Sebald

"The more images I gathered from the past, I said, the more unlikely it seemed to me that the past had actually happened in this or that way, for nothing about it could be called normal: most of it was absurd, and if not absurd, then appalling."

-W.G. Sebald from Vertigo p 212

3 Comments:

Blogger Maggie May said...

it's so true. but, much of what goes on NOW is absurd and appalling. so i think the truth is in between.

2:36 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Agreed. But what Sebald was getting at here (or the character speaking these words) was a sense of regret and shame about the past--caught in that loop to such a degree that the present situation doesn't even register, which gives it even more of a punch because of it's limited scope--the vacuum of regret is so vast! Nostalgia will knock the crap out of you, if you partake of it long enough.

8:26 AM  
Blogger Maggie May said...

the vacuum of regret = new poem, hey

9:43 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home