Word: novelized
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From the moment we learn that Austerlitz was evacuated to England, the Holocaust haunts almost every page of the novel, but the novel never lapses into hysteria. This is partly attributable to Sebald’s deliberate prose style—described by critic James Wood as “densely agitated”—which renders even the most psychologically disordered states with forensic lucidity: “reason was powerless against the sense of rejection and annihilation which I had always suppressed, and which was now breaking through the walls of its confinement...
Moreover, the genocide in which we presume Austerlitz’s mother was murdered (this is never stated explicitly) is manifest in the fragments of evidence that Austerlitz finds in archives and books, and in the unattributed photographs that punctuate the pages of the novel. This is clearest towards the book’s end, in an extended description of a film made by the Nazis on the occasion of the Red Cross’s inspection of Theresienstadt in 1944, mendaciously depicting the prisoners of the camp enjoying life in what resembles a holiday resort. Austerlitz slows the film...
...while “Austerlitz” shares these works’ fixation on uncovering the histories of forgotten people and places, its odyssey is a darker, more troubling one, and its construction more deliberate. The novel is preoccupied with the line that separates being from non-being, a line that blurs and trembles when we realize the contingency of our present existence on the now-invisible events of the past. For this reason, it is tempting to read “Austerlitz” as Sebald’s swan song, haunted, as it is, by one man?...
...global financial meltdown weren’t enough, this spring introduced scary words like “novel virus” and “pandemic,” bumping the financial crisis off the headlines. The attention-grabbing RNA virus took the world by surprise and, thanks to air travel, spread rapidly from its origin in Mexico to every continent. The virus’ spread was a perfect storm of mutation (a combination of swine, human, and avian elements), little to no human immunity, and no available vaccine against it. To make matters worse, everyone was touting its similarity...
...heart of ASP’s “The Taming of the Shrew” is an uninspiring staging of Shakespeare with one novel idea that runs out of steam before the action really starts. The production begins as a smart, entertaining, and stimulating evening of theater, but it quickly loses its way. While it has some redeeming qualities and moments throughout, this performance simply feels lackluster. You could pay a visit to the Wild Cat this coming week, but, frankly, your money would be better spent at a real...