W.G. Sebald

The central character of the book is the author himself, W.G. Sebald was born in the Bavarian Alps, from where he studied at the Freiburg University before moving to Britain (East Anglia) and settling down.

As a character within his own book Sebald takes the central position of the entire narrative: the entire novel is written in the first person style, and the authors own recollections, studies, feelings and dreams become important pieces of the narrative and the clues which drive the book onwards. As the author is casting Himself-As-Narrator as a character, he himself takes on a slightly fictitious air as he attempts to perform upon himself the same kind of treatment that we might expect of a fictional character within a novel. Just as in a normal work of fiction we investigate the actors actions, their feelings and responses; we are doing the...