Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz

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dc.contributor.advisorClarkson, Carrolen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCawood, Meganen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-09-15T07:26:22Z
dc.date.available2014-09-15T07:26:22Z
dc.date.issued2007en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 82-84).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe eponymous protagonist of Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald's final prose novel, is haunted by landscapes of loss. Both Austerlitz and the narrator are acutely aware of the signs of destruction and of the invisible histories of loss in the landscapes through which they travel. Through the gaze of both these characters Sebald exposes the haunted wasteland of post -war Europe and describes the sites of many of the atrocities of the Holocaust. While much has been written about Sebald's use of landscape and his emphasis on memory, there is very little research to date that has taken a phenomenological approach to Sebald's texts. There are specific affinities, for example, between the musings of the protagonist and the narrator of Sebald's Austerlitz and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of perception. This dissertation explores the implications of Merleau-Ponty's existential phenomenology as an approach to Sebald's Austerlitz, by showing that while phenomenology provides a valuable conceptual framework through which to engage the novel, there are aspects of this phenomenological approach which Sebald's work, in its narrative form, is able to extend beyond the boundaries of philosophical discourse. The central argument is that Austerlitz's perception of architectural sites is inextricably linked to aspects of memory and narrative. This dissertation first explores the thematic concerns of the outworking of traumatic memory in the spaces of architecture, in the subjective experience of time, and in the act of perception; after which it examines how Sebald's narrative technique creates a text-scape which implicates its reader's gaze.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationCawood, M. (2007). <i>Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7464en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationCawood, Megan. <i>"Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7464en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationCawood, M. 2007. Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Cawood, Megan AB - The eponymous protagonist of Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald's final prose novel, is haunted by landscapes of loss. Both Austerlitz and the narrator are acutely aware of the signs of destruction and of the invisible histories of loss in the landscapes through which they travel. Through the gaze of both these characters Sebald exposes the haunted wasteland of post -war Europe and describes the sites of many of the atrocities of the Holocaust. While much has been written about Sebald's use of landscape and his emphasis on memory, there is very little research to date that has taken a phenomenological approach to Sebald's texts. There are specific affinities, for example, between the musings of the protagonist and the narrator of Sebald's Austerlitz and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of perception. This dissertation explores the implications of Merleau-Ponty's existential phenomenology as an approach to Sebald's Austerlitz, by showing that while phenomenology provides a valuable conceptual framework through which to engage the novel, there are aspects of this phenomenological approach which Sebald's work, in its narrative form, is able to extend beyond the boundaries of philosophical discourse. The central argument is that Austerlitz's perception of architectural sites is inextricably linked to aspects of memory and narrative. This dissertation first explores the thematic concerns of the outworking of traumatic memory in the spaces of architecture, in the subjective experience of time, and in the act of perception; after which it examines how Sebald's narrative technique creates a text-scape which implicates its reader's gaze. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz TI - Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7464 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/7464
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationCawood M. Invisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 2007 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7464en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnglish Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.titleInvisible landscapes : landscape, memory and time in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitzen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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