Winfried Sebald - Across the Land and the Water - Selected Poems, 1964-2001

The notes that follow cannot be comprehensive, nor do they propose to “explain” the poems or disclose their secrets. Their purpose is twofold: to show the textual sources on which the present volume draws and to throw light on some of Sebald’s allusions to landscapes, works of art or literature, and other matters of historical interest. Points of reference and connotation inevitably inform a translator’s decisions as he goes about the business of rebuilding a poem in a different language. Even after considerable research, however, many details have remained obscure. Readers better acquainted than I am with the life and work of W. G. Sebald will recognize echoes, overtones, and contexts that I have overlooked.

In indicating the source of a poem, the following abbreviations will apply: FSZ( Freiburger Studentenzeitung ); ZET( Das Zeichenheft für Literatur und Grafik ); PT(Collection “Poemtrees. Lyrisches Lesebuch für Fortgeschrittene und Zurückgebliebene,” Folders 1 & 2, in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach); H(Hanser Verlag volume Über das Land und das Wasser , ed. Sven Meyer: 2008); SL(Folder 1: “Schullatein,” in collection “Über das Land und das Wasser,” in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach); ÜLW(Folder 2: “Über das Land und das Wasser,” in collection “Über das Land und das Wasser,” in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach); VVJ(Folder 3: “Das vorvergange Jahr,” in collection “Über das Land und das Wasser,” in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach); GG1(File “Gedichte und Gedichtentwürfe,” Folder 1, in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach); DK(Der Komet. Almanach der Anderen Bibliothek auf das Jahr 1991 , Frankfurt am Main: 1991); WS( Weltwoche Supplement: Juni 1996); JPT(Jan Peter Tripp, Die Aufzählung der Schwierigkeiten: Arbeiten von 1985–92 , Offenburg, 1993); FL(Franz Loquai, W. G. Sebald , Eggingen, 1997); NZZ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Nr 256, 13 November 1999); AK48( Akzente 48 J., 2001 ); AK50( Akzente 50 J., 2003); K&C( Konterbande und Camouflage. Szenen aus der Vor- und Nachgeschichte von Heinrich Heines marranischer Schreibweise . Berlin, 2002); P( Pretext , vol. 2: Autumn 2000); FYN(Collection “For Years Now,” in The Papers of W. G. Sebald, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach).

1 “For how hard it is”PT, FSZ 14 (1964), H.

2 “A colony of allotments”PT, FSZ 14 (1964), H.

3 “Smoke will stir”PT, FSZ 14 (1964), H.

4 “The intention is sealed”FSZ 14 (1964), H.

5 NymphenburgPT, FSZ 14 (1964), H. Title: the gardens and interiors of the Baroque Nymphenburg Palace, formerly the summer residence of Bavaria’s ruling Wittelsbach dynasty, are among Munich’s most frequently visited attractions. mauves: French for “mallows.” Wishing Table: the poem invokes the Brothers Grimm’s tales “Dornröschen” (“Sleeping Beauty,” or “Briar Rose”) and “Tischchen deck dich, Goldesel und Knüppel aus dem Sack” (“The Wishing Table, the Gold Ass and the Cudgel in the Sack”), in which a table, on command, sets and spreads its own surface with food and drink.

6 EpitaphFSZ 15 (1965), H.

7 Schattwald in TyrolPT, FSZ 15 (1965), H. Title: Tyrolean village to the east of Oberjoch, from which the narrator of the final section (“Il ritorno in patria”) of Sebald’s Schwindel. Gefühle (1990; Eng. trans. Vertigo , 1999) walks to Wertach, the author’s place of birth. Rosetta stone: an ancient Egyptian stele of black granodiorite, inscribed with the so-called Memphis decree, issued in three languages in 196 BCE. Its discovery contributed to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. In an earlier version of the poem, the second stanza reads: “Am Anfang der Legende / brachte die Botschaft / der Engel des Herrn / ins Haus aus Schatten” (At the beginning of the legend / the Angel of the Lord / brought the tidings / to the House of Shadows”).

8 Remembered Triptych of a Journey from BrusselsPT, FSZ 15 (1965), H. near Meran in Ezra’s hanging garden: from 1958, after his release from St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., Ezra Pound stayed at Castle Brunnenburg near Meran in northern Italy, the home of his daughter Mary de Rachewiltz. battlefield at Waterloo: Sebald’s narrator describes visits to Waterloo in the passage entitled (in the contents) “The Panorama of Waterloo,” in the fifth chapter of The Rings of Saturn , including a visit in December 1964, when he stayed at a hotel near the Bois de la Cambre and visited a bar in Rhode St. Genèse. Marie-Louises: young soldiers of the Napoleonic army in 1814, many of them between fourteen and fifteen years old, who had been conscripted during the regency of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s wife, during her husband’s absence for the German campaign of 1813–14. ferme in Genappe: the farmhouse was Napoleon’s headquarters on the night of June 17, 1815, the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. Marquise of O.: the reference to the eponymous protagonist of Heinrich von Kleist’s story is obscure, but see note on Light in August below. A woman’s mouth … roses: in English in the German text. Départ … Milan via St. Gotthard: the train for Milan via St. Gotthard departs from platform 8 at 00.16 hours. industrie chimique: chemical industry. light above the heavenly vaults: in English in the German text. Bahnhof von Metz: Metz train station. bien éclairée: well illuminated. Gregorius, the guote sündaere (Gregorius, the good sinner): a medieval verse epic by Hartmann von der Aue (died ca. 1210). Au near Freiburg: one of the municipalities of that name which claim association with the poet. rechtsrheinisch: on the right (eastern) side of the Rhine. Froben & Company: the humanist Johann Froben (1460–1527), a friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam, set up a successful printing business in Basel in 1491. Light in August: title of a novel (1932) by William Faulkner (1897–1962). One of the characters is Lena Grove, who, like the pregnant Marquise of O. in Heinrich von Kleist’s story, mentioned earlier in the poem, is trying to find the father of her unborn child. To do so, she walks a long distance to Jefferson, in Yoknapatawpha , the fictional setting of several of Faulkner’s novels.