 Book cover | |
| Author | W. G. Sebald |
|---|---|
| Original title | Luftkrieg und Literatur |
| Translator | Anthea Bell |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | Carl Hanser Verlag |
Publication date | 1999 |
| Publication place | Germany |
Published in English | 2003 |
| Pages | 165 |
| ISBN | 3-446-19661-7 |
On the Natural History of Destruction is a 1999 book by the German writerW. G. Sebald. Its original German title isLuftkrieg und Literatur, which means "Air war and literature". It consists of essays about literature and writers, through which Sebald discusses the German processing ofWorld War II.
The book was published inMunich in 1999 throughCarl Hanser Verlag. The German edition features the long titular essay and the one on Andersch. In 2003 the book was published in an English translation byAnthea Bell, to which the shorter essays on Améry and Weiss were added.[1]
John Banville reviewed the book forThe Guardian: "On the Natural History of Destruction is a quietly spoken but fierce protest at the mendacity and moral evasiveness of our time. In the tragic absence of more Sebald fiction, it will have to do. One can do no better than to say of Sebald's work what he himself quotesElias Canetti saying of the diary, 'notable for precision and responsibility', of a survivor of Hiroshima: 'If there were any point in wondering what form of literature is essential to a thinking, seeing human being today, then it is this.'"[1] Kenneth Baker of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Sebald's matter-of-fact evocation of the wartime events on which his collection turns make sickening reading. He relies on the written recollections of a few contemporary witnesses, notablyHans Erich Nossack andAlexander Kluge but offers long descriptions of the terrible events in his own even voice." Baker ended the review: "On the Natural History of Destruction leaves an aftertaste of sadness that flows from both its own bleak reflections and the knowledge that Sebald's indispensable voice has been silenced."[2]
