Sebald pointedly refers to Nabokov's
"Speak,Memory" in his novel "Austerlitz" by recollecting
an old lady who woke up under a blanket of snow, nevertheless, when he
describes how a bird smashes against a glassy surface,* he seems to be directing
his experience to reflect on a very different line of thought. Where John
Shade encounters hope ("and I flew on in the reflected sky"), Austerlitz equates
conceptual perfection, in practice, to relentless dysfunction.
Nabokov's joy adds a special glitter in the contours
of his watermark and, perhaps, his "ecstatic" writing is that
which turns style into matter.
..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
* "And several times, said Austerlitz, birds which had
lost their way in the library forest flew into the mirror images of the trees in
the reading-room windows, struck the glass with a dull thud and fell lifeless to
the ground. Sitting at my place in the reading-room, said Austerlitz, I thought
at length about the way in which such unforseen accidents, the fall of a single
creature to its death when diverted from its natural path, or the recurrent
symptoms of paralysis affecting the electronic data retrieval system, relate to
the Cartesian overall plan of the Bibliotheque Nationale, and I came to the
conclusion that in any project we design and develop, the size and degree
of complexity of the information and control systems inscribed in it are the
crucial factors, so that the all-embracing and absolute perfection of the
concept can in practice coincide, indeed ultimately must coincide, with its
chronic dysfunction…" (W.G.Sebald –
Austerlitz)