Vertigo by W. G. Sebald

I was just about to write a review of The Indian Clerk, which I finished a couple days ago. I was looking at my reading calendar in Bookcase and realized that I hadn't reviewed the two books I finished on the trip to California. So, here goes.

The four chapters of this book fit together only loosely. The first and third are accounts of travels to Italy by Stendhal and Franz Kafka, respectively. The second and fourth are (fictionalized?) accounts of journeys to Italy by the author himself. His travel stories are not tales of high adventure and knee-slapping misadventure. There are the occasional mishaps, such as the loss of his passport to a case of mistaken identity, but they are not bled for comedy.

Sebald writes about rather mundane experiences, but manages to render them interesting. The Rings of Saturn, which I read in 2002 and again in 2004, does so by packing in anecdotes pulled from far afield, about various historical figures of interest to the author. Vertigo is much less expansive, in that respect. However, it follows the same pattern, to a degree. The first and third chapters certainly match that description. Chapter two includes a shorter account of Casanova's escape from imprisonment in Venice.

Memory is an important theme of this book. In both the author's travel chapters, he visits places he has been before. The last chapter includes a visit to the town where he grew up. There, he reminisces with the locals and includes anecdotes from his childhood. It's easy to empathize, and readers likely stumble across a few distant memories along the way themselves.

Recommended, as is The Rings of Saturn. I will try to pick up more Sebald some day.