Patience (After Sebald) [Film Review]

Click here to read full review.

”Combustion is the hidden principle behind every artifact we create.” –W.G. Sebald

In the middle of 1992, Winfried Georg Sebald undertook an extensive walking expedition in Suffolk, an area of the United Kindom known for its often discordant environment and a rich cultural history. One of the products of the author’s journey was the published book titled The Rings of Saturn, a masterpiece containing ruminations on many interesting topics, from the works of Sir Thomas Browne to the beginnings of the silkworm cultivations in the west – all of them relating in some way to the erosion of memory and the certainty of decay. The book, published three years after the journey, became a literary treasure among readers and revered by many critics who took the time to interpret it and spawned one of the nerdiest literary projects to date, LITMAP. From examining a myriad of original material and significant interviews with Sebald enthusiasts, biographers, and colleagues, Grant Gee’s Patience (After Sebald)does an astonishing job of encapsulating the ambiguous tone of Sebald’s beautiful book.