Roads to Berlin

by Cees Nooteboom, Laura Watkinson (Translator)

Overview

Roads to Berlin maps the changing landscape of Germany, from the period before the fall of the Wall to the present. Written and updated over the course of several decades, an eyewitness account of the pivotal events of 1989 gives way to a perceptive appreciation of its difficult passage to reunification.

Nooteboom's writings on politics, people, architecture and culture are as digressive as they are eloquent; his innate curiosity takes him through the landscapes of Heine and Goethe, steeped in Romanticism and mythology, and to Germany's baroque cities. With an outsider's objectivity he has crafted an intimate portrait of the country to its present day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849166003
Publisher:	Quercus Publishing
Publication date:	09/27/2012
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

LAURA WATKINSON lived in England, Scotland, Italy and Germany, before settling in the Netherlands in 2003. Her previous translations include Cees Nooteboom's Roads to Berlin, Letters to Poseidon and Venice, Peter Terrin's Post Mortem, Otto de Kat's The Longest Night and Freetown, and Tonke Dragt's The Letter for the King.
Cees Nooteboom was born in The Hague in 1933, and now lives in Amsterdam and on the island of Menorca. He is a poet and novelist who has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as the Pegasus Prize and the Aristeion Prize for his novels, which include Rituals (1983), The Following Story (1994), and All Souls' Day (2001). His books of travel writing, Roads to Santiago (1997) and Roads to Berlin (2012) have become backlist classics.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Part I 1

Prologue: Crossing the Border 3

Intermezzo in the Third Person: Vestigia pedis 123

Second Intermezzo: Ancient Times 141

Part II 257

Berlin Suite 259

Dead Aeroplanes and Eagles Everywhere 273

Village within the Wall 285

Rheinsberg: An Intermezzo 289

Return to Berlin 301

Part III 323

Part IV 381

A Visit to the Chancellor 383

Epilogue 395

Glossary including biographical and other explanatory notes 403

Afterword to Part I 417

Notes on this Edition 419

Index 421

Editorial Reviews

"[Nooteboom] brilliantly captures the intensity of the capital and its associated layers of memory.... He writes in a voice that blends the acuity of Martha Gellhorn with the meditative grace of W.G. Sebald."—The Economist

"A fascinating personal chronicle."—Der Tagesspiegel

From the Hardcover edition.

"A uniquely meditative and poetic study of Germany."—Colin Thubron, The Guardian. ("The Observer's books of the year")

"An exciting account... Nooteboom wears his erudition lightly, and weaves personal anecdote into memorable reportage."—Ian Thomson, The Sunday Telegraph

"It is a wonderful voyage of self-discovery, and a psychological exploration of a nation in turmoil."—Quentin Peel, The Financial Times

"More than a reporter, more even than a traveler, Nooteboom is a poet. His writing is lyrical and densely textured. He is a poet of time and memory."—Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books

"Nooteboom is one of the greatest modern novelists."—A.S. Byatt

"Nooteboom understands well the German national character."—Die Zeit

"The book is cleverly written as a history and travel guide which reads like a novel, a unique, one-of-a-kind armchair travel experience you will find fascinating.... A most interesting, informative read that will delight any history or travel buff."—www.RealTravelAdventures.com

"To read Nooteboom is to be introduced to a delicious European sensibility: cultured, erudite, lyrical, searching for answers."—The Guardian

"[Roads to Berlin is] "written with the accuracy of a historian and the imagination of a poet. Beautifully translated, too."—Brandon Ronshaw, The Independent

"[A] deeply philosophical blend of reportage, history, and memoir, capturing the psyche of a people living in the shadow of a wall and of their own past."—The New Yorker

From the Publisher