Kirjahaku

From one of Europe’s most revered authors, a tale of one man’s obsessive project to collect the instruments of death, evil, and humanity’s darkest atrocities in order to oppose them “It’s an attractive trait in Magris that he so obviously can’t resist a good story. . . . Blameless, wonderfully translated by Anne Milano Appel, succeeds as a prayer for mercy and reason in a world of torturers and whitewashers.”—Neal Ascherson, New York Review of Books Claudio Magris’s searing new novel ruthlessly confronts the human obsession with war and its savagery in every age and every country. His tale centers on a man whose maniacal devotion to the creation of a Museum of War involves both a horrible secret and the hope of redemption. Luisa Brooks, his museum’s curator, a descendant of victims of Jewish exile and of black slavery, has a complex dilemma: will the collections she exhibits save humanity from repeating its tragic and violent past? Or might the display of articles of war actually valorize and memorialize evil atrocities? In Blameless Magris affirms his mastery of the novel form, interweaving multiple themes and traveling deftly through history. With a multitude of stories, the author investigates individual sorrow, the societal burden of justice aborted, and the ways in which memory and historical evidence are sabotaged or sometimes salvaged.

A writer for whom the journey has always mattered reinvents the very form itself in this inviting collection of in-the-moment impressions of his journeys A writer of enormous erudition and wide-ranging travels, Claudio Magris selects for this volume writings penned during trips and wanderings over the span of several decades. He has traveled through these years with many beloved companions, to whom he dedicates the book, and sought the kind of journey “that occurs when you abandon yourself to [the gentle current of time] and to whatever life brings.” Taken together Magris’s essays share a clearly identified theme. They represent the motif of the journey in all its aspects—literary, metaphysical, spiritual, mythical, philosophical, historical—as well as the author’s comprehensive understanding of the subject or, one might say, of his own way of being in the world. Traveling from Spain to Germany to Poland, Norway, Vietnam, Iran, and Australia, he records particular moments and places through a highly personal lens. A writer’s writer and a reader’s traveler, Magris proves that wandering is equal part wondering.

In this acclaimed international bestseller, Claudio Magris tracks the Danube River, setting his finger on the pulse of Central Europe, the crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, Christianity and Islam. In each town he raises the ghosts that inhabit the houses and monuments, from Ovid and Marcus Aurelius to Kafka and Canetti, in "a fascinating blend of anecdote and history" (San Francisco Examiner).

Amid wars, failed revolutions and the shifting of frontiers, the bit-part players often have the best tales to tell - an astonishing, genre-blurring travelogue from Italian master Claudio Magris.In the tiny borderlands of Istria and Italy, from the forests of Monte Nevoso, to the hidden valleys of the Tyrol, to a Trieste café, Microcosms pieces together a mosaic of stories - comic, tragic, picaresque, nostalgic - from life's minor characters. Their worlds might be small, but they are far from minimalist: in them flashes the great, the meaningful, the unrepeatable significance of every existence.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD FLANAGANIn this fascinating journey Claudio Magris, whose knowledge is encyclopaedic and whose curiosity limitless, guides his reader from the source of the Danube in the Bavarian hills through Austro-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea.

An illuminating portrait of a world in ferment after the First world War, and a man seeking an authentic life.Early this century Enrico, a young intellectual, leaves the city of Gorizia with its abundant population and culture, to spend several years living on the Patagonian pampas, alone with his ancient Greek texts, his flocks and, every now and then, a woman. He has been taught by his closest friend, Carlo, a philosopher/poet who commits suicide in his early twenties, to search for an authentic life, free of social falsehoods. But in his search for this unattainable goal, Enrico destroys every chance he has of a normal existence. This is portrait of a world in ferment, a decaying empire shaken by war and revolution, and a life-long search for meaning.

Eine Reise durch Länder und Zeiten. Auf ungewöhnlichen Wegen durch die Kulturlandschaften, die die Donau durchmisst und verbindet, begegnet man Martin Heidegger, Franz Kafka, Albert Einstein und vielen anderen.

Die Donau hat viele Namen, bevor sie nach 2850 Kilometern ins Schwarze Meer mündet: Donau, Dunaj, Duna, Dunar, Dunai. Wer diesem Strom literarisch gerecht werden will, muss ein neues Genre erfinden, um die Geschichte und die Geschichten, die Reiche und Länder, die Menschen und Sprachen zu versammeln. Claudio Magris hat dies in unvergleichlicher Weise getan, sein Buch ist in dreißig Ländern ein Standardwerk geworden.

Donau er en av de virkelige store klassikerne fra det 20.århundres reiselitteratur. Claudio Magris følger Donaus løp fra elvens kilde i de bayerske høydedrag, gjennom det gamle keiserrikets Østerrike - Ungarn, inn over Balkan og ut i Svartehavet. Det er en langsom mediterende reise hvor fortelleren tar seg tid til å utforske stedenes hemmeligheter og historier. Donau er den store pulsåren i det sentral- europeiske kulturlandskapet, hvor så mange av de mest fascinerende skikkelsene og ideene som vi forbinder med Europa har oppstått.

Salvatore Cippio, vraket kamerat og kommunist, påstår at han var den danske sjømannen, svindleren og spionen Jorgen Jorgensen i et tidligere liv. Jorgen vokste opp i København sent på 1700-tallet, ble selvbestaltet konge på Island i noen få uker, var medgrunnlegger av byen Hobart Town i Tasmania, senere dømt for svindel i England og sendt tilbake til Tasmania som straffange. Han deltar i den spanske borgerkrigen og slåss som partisan i Jugoslavia før han ender i konsentrasjonsleirene. Alltid klarer han å være på feil sted til feil tid.

Magris’ berømte hybridværk, der rummer en fascinerende rejse i tid og rum med Donau-områdets blomstrende kultur som knudepunkt. Magris introduceret med Donau en helt ny genre mellem roman og essay, dagbog og selvbiografi, kulturhistorie og rejsebeskrivelse: en totalt opslugende sammensmeltning af oplevelse og viden om litteratur, kunst, historie, som fører sin læser de 3000 kilometer ned ad Donau, fra udspringet i Schwarzwald til deltaet i Sortehavet. Pressen skriver: »Stemningen er næsten magisk, og det er næsten som at være der selv. Man får lyst til at følge i hans fodspor og foretage samme rejse« – Charlotte Jakobsen, Lektør »En bog der bærer Klogskabens duft […] Ny udgivelse af Donau viser tydeligt, hvorfor Claudio Magris så ofte sættes i forbindelse med Nobel-prisen. […] Det er jo genialt!« – Arne Mariager, Vejle Amts Folkeblad

I Alfabet finner vi de böcker som har format oss och sårat oss och tillsammans kunnat lindra såret. De böcker som låter oss lära känna och ordna världen och de som avslöjar dess omskakande och förgörande kaos, dess tjusning och fasa. De böcker som får oss att skymta räddningen och de som blickar ut mot intet. Framför allt de som vidgar litteraturens gränser och hänvisar bortom den. Alfabet uppfångar de stundom tragiska motsägelserna hos litteraturen och dess författare, som har förmågan att få alla att förstå vad mänsklighet är men också kan kränka denna mänsklighet på ett skändligt sätt. Följdriktigt avslutas resan med en lidelsefull och lysande reflexion över litteraturens förhållande till etik och politik, en reflektion som samtidigt visar på nödvändigheten av engagemang och den lika nödvändiga ansvarslösheten hos poesin. Urvalet av texter för den svenska utgåvan har gjorts av författaren.