The Rings of Saturn

by W. G. Sebald

This novel, which has secured W. G. Sebald a reputation as one of the most original literary figures of his time, combines historical fact with fiction as the narrator, who has recently suffered a mysterious and paralyzing breakdown, travels backward in time while he wanders through Suffolk, England. It includes photographs of people and places mentioned in the text. A New York Times Notable Book for 1998.

Editions of The Rings of Saturn

ISBN 9780811214131	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher New Directions	Date 1999	Price $4.25	Near Fine
ISBN 9781860463990	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Harvill Pr	Date 1998	Price £5.95	NEAR FINE
ISBN 9781860463983	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher Harvill Pr	Date 1998	Price £175.00	Fine
ISBN 9781860466090	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Harvill Pr	Date 1999	Price £2.48	Used - Acceptable

Media Reviews

"Erudition of this sort is too rare in American fiction, but the hypnotic appeal here has as much to do with Sebald's deft portrait of the subtle, complex relations between individual experience and the rich human firmament that gives it meaning as it does with his remarkable mastery of history."

First Line

In August 1992, when the dog days were drawing to an end, I set off to walk the county of Suffolk, in the hope of dispelling the emptiness that takes hold of me whenever I have completed a long stint of work. And in fact my hope was realized, up to a point; for I have seldom felt so carefree as I did then, walking for hours in the day through the thinly populated countryside, which stretches inland from the coast. I wonder now, however, whether there might be something in the old superstition that certain ailments of the spirit and of the body are particularly likely to beset us under the sign of the Dog Star.

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