Danube - A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea

Magris, Claudio

ISBN 10: 186046467X / ISBN 13: 9781860464676

Published by The Harvill Press, 1997

About this Item

First printing thus in paperback. Splendid paperback copy - unmarked, bright and clean with uncreased spine. Suitable for a gift. Enjoy reading with a real book in your hands. Shipping from North Carolina. Dedicated to delighting our customers. Delivery confirmation provided on all domestic orders. Happy to ship to international locations. Consider expedited shipping - just a little more moves your purchase a lot faster. Digital photos available on request for any book. Seller Inventory # mon0000039310

Bibliographic Details

Title: Danube - A Sentimental Journey from the ...

Publisher: The Harvill Press

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

This celebrates a river which has been at the centre of the great movements of history, the crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, of Christendom and Islam. The reader accompanies the author along its course, from the Bavarian hills through Austro-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea. In each town he raises the ghosts that inhabit the houses and monuments - Kafka and Freud, Wittgenstein and Marcus Aurelius, Lukacs, Heidegger and Celine, Canetti and Ovid - philosophers, novelists, diplomats and "condottieri", patriots and politicians.

Review:

This is a very Italian book, reminiscent of Italo Calvino or Roberto Calasso. Part history, part philosophy, part travelogue and literature in the richest, most amply rewarding sense. Writing with tremendous exuberance, Claudio Magris has produced a paean to what Hölderlin called "the river of melody"--the Danube, Europe's main artery, and the heart of that elusive but fascinating zone known as Mitteleuropa. Magris is certainly erudite, and not afraid of displaying his erudition, but he also has a fine sense of humour and an eye for the absurd. According to one eminent sedimentologist, he tells us, the source of the Danube is a leaky tap in a remote mountain farmhouse. And of course, the one colour it isn't, ever, is blue. The Hungarians call it blond, apparently. "Muddy yellow" might be more accurate, says the author. His greatest passion, however, is people: poets, singers, murderers, emperors, Dracula, Kafka, Wittgenstein, Josef Mengele--all human life is here. And it makes doubly fascinating reading for having been written back in 1986, when brutes like Ceaucescu were still in power and the iron curtain was still in place, though beginning to tremble slightly now in the wind of history. -- Christopher Hart