Snapshots

A collection of brief, but intimate meditations on life and culture ranging from controversial matters to private moments

The internationally acclaimed author Claudio Magris offers a collection of brief “snapshots” reflecting on life and culture from 1999 to 2013 through his very personal lens. Some pieces portray private, intimate moments, while others offer views on public, sometimes controversial matters; the tone is sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, sometimes ironic, but always engaging. The panoramic nature of the vignettes is broad in scope, encompassing a variety of subjects rendered in quick, decisive brushstrokes. It is a little like leafing through a photo album of our times and our society while a learned companion seated beside us offers a perceptive running commentary. Magris’s wit—at times pungent, at times self-deprecating, always keen—is refreshingly affable. A continuing adventure by the author who has reinvented “travel literature.”

Claudio Magris, celebrated scholar, was professor of Germanic studies at the universities of Torino and Trieste. He is the internationally acclaimed author of Danube and Microcosms and winner of the Premio Strega (1997), Praemium Erasmianum (2001), Premio Principe de Asturias (2004), Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (2009), and Kafka Prize (2016). His recent works include Blameless and Journeying. Anne Milano Appel is an award-winning translator from the Italian who has translated works by Claudio Magris, Paolo Giordano, Primo Levi, and Giovanni Arpino.