cover

Author: W.G. Sebald

Format: Paperback (ty wy)

On the Natural History of Destruction is a collection of essays by author/literary critic W.G. Sebald that focus on the German literary response to World War II (though from what I gather this is like kinda his whole schtick anyway). In particular, the primary essay of the collection focuses on the Allied (fire)bombing campaigns in Germany during WWII and, specifically, asks why so little literature has been published about these catastrophic events. Sebald argues (from what I got) that, along the obvious reluctance to attempt to ‘victimize’ Germans living through/possibly complicit in Nazi Germany, much of the silence is possibly due to the trauma of survivors and general inability for prose to truly portray such horrific events without devolving into kitsch.

The main essay itself I found to be an interesting reflection in of itself on the bombings, though halfway through I remembered that this was really a work of literary criticism and started getting a bit lost as it focused more on specific authors / novels. There is a distinct emphasis on West German works specifically - there’s a brief aside in which Sebald offhandedly dismisses the existence of East German literature about the bombings, which apparently was a pretty notable oversight. The other essays in the book were interesting enough - they focus on the works of Alfred Andersch, Jean Améry, and Peter Weiss, respectively. The first is a rather amusing dunk session on Andersch, who Sebald clearly does not think highly of, and the other two explore how Améry grappled with his experience during the Holocaust and Weiss’s evocation of cruelty as a commentary(?) on public executions.

idk it was cool I’m not smart enough for this tbh just gimme the historical tomes.