W G Sebald’s Austerlitz as a Form of Literary Commemoration

W G Sebald's literary career, which was largely dedicated to exposing and attempting to work through the complexities of Germany's National Socialist past, ended with the publication of his 2001 novel, Austerlitz. Sebald's literary oeuvre, which includes biographical, autobiographical, historical and fictional elements, is difficult to categorise into any particular genre. Yet he is probably best known for his thorough and thought-provoking lamentation of Jewish suffering and trauma, in particular, his focus on the forgotten aspects of this past. These elements are present not only in Austerlitz, but also in his earlier work, Die Ausgewanderten.