Product Description

Danube is a triumphant celebration of a river that has forever been at the center of the great movements of history. In this fascinating journey through the history and culture of the Danube, Claudio Magris, whose knowledge is encyclopedic and his curiosity limitless, invites the reader to accompany him along the whole course of the river, from the Bavarian hills through Austria-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #788154 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
More than a thoroughfare linking Europe and Asia, the Danube, for Magris, is symbol and nourisher of a hinterland, a Germanic/Magyar/Slavic/Jewish/Central European culture counterposed to northern and western Europe. As he follows the river from the Bavarian hills to the Black Sea, lingering at villages, castles, Viennese cafes, ancient ruins and cemeteries, the author, a professor of German literature at the University of Trieste, offers a sustained, rich, often profound meditation on diverse themes: the tension between Greco-Roman and Teutonic civilization, the roots of fascism, Napoleon as a personification of modern, clashing nationalisms, etc. We read of Hapsburg splendor and decline, Nazi evil, Slavic soul-searching, Rumania as melting-pot of races and cultures. This sequence of stately tableaux is steeped in cultural and historical references to the likes of Kafka and Kepler, Haydn, Heidegger, Elias Canetti, George Konrad, Vasko Popa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Danube river runs from central to southeast Europe, and Danube is a stream of consciousness flowing down the history of the great basin. The intrepid Italian traveler and cultural and literary historian, Claudio Magris, has taken the occasion of his river-length journey to make forays into the legends and lore, history and geography, politics and literature of the peoples and places along the Danube's winding path. The result is a rambling amalgam rich in nuances and allusions, some of which may be lost on those unversed in Central European culture. This is a stimulating tour which will challenge and reward the attentive and courageous intellectual traveler. It is recommended for academic and public libraries.
- James B. Street, Santa Cruz P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Magris's writing is as multifarious, as digressive, as whimsical, as ironic and as lyrical as his vision of Mitteleuropa." -- Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews

An esoteric, yet intriguing, journey
Magris's account of the journey, from its obscure and contested origins in Germany (Donaueschingen? Brigach? Furtwangen?), to the Black Sea is alternatingly scintillating and impenetrably dense. It is fully possible that many of the stylistic difficulties that occur hear arise out of the translation process.

Despite the occasional obfuscation, this is a deeply intriguing book. I picked it up, thinking that it may perhaps successfully do for the Donau (Danube) what Rebecca West's monumental "Black lamb and Grey Falcon" did for Yugoslavia, namely to serve as a marvelous compilation of historical narratives and anecdotes, sort of a "reference point for the ages". In this, "Danube" does not disappoint. There may be thousands of more readable books, but this one is rare, in that it blends so wonderfully narrative, history, and anecdote. Ultimately even the denseness of the prose may be a virtue...it reduces the reader's speed, allowing us to better digest and reflect upon its contents. I recommend it.

More Than Just a Travel Book, It's Literature and Art
Claudio Magris's Danube is special to me first of all because I spent 8 years living and working in the Central European area described in the book. But it is more than just another travel book because it manages to capture the mood and feeling of Central Europe: its complex overlapping history, the melancholic pensiveness of so many of its writers and artists, the sense of hidden mystery in so many of its places. Danube manages to combine the travel narrative with philosophy, history and real sense of place. It is essential reading whether you go to Central Europe or are just interested in its complexity.

A river of memory
In this fascinating journey, Magris takes us from the very -and much disputed- sources of the Danube in the Black Forest, in Southern Germany, to the mouth of the river in the Black Sea, in Romanian territory. Along the way, Magris recreates the legends, stories and historical moments of every village and city he visits. The Danube area is, of course, full of history, since most peoples who ever set foot in Europe seem to have crossed it one way or another. Princes, wars, writers, lovers, many interesting and even fascinating stories illuminate for the reader the waters of the Danube. It really makes you want to make the same trip.

It would be interesting to read an update by Magris, especially about those places who were then under Soviet rule, now that almost 20 years have passed since the publication of the book. Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia all pass before your eyes like a dream.

Every town and story motivates in Magris deep reflections on history, memory, the passage of time, politics, and many other subjects. Magris's prose is dense in the best sense of the term: it is rich and deep, with a poetic quality to it. Very much recommended, it discovers for us many writers from that area who seem worth to read.