Danube (Panther S.) [Paperback]

Claudio Magris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Panther S. | Publication Date: April 2001

In Danube the author sets his finger on the pulse of Central Europe, the crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, of Christendom and Islam. In this journey through the history and culture of the Danube lands, Claudio Magris guides the reader along the course of the river, from its source in 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, from Ovid and Marcus Aurelius to Kafka and Canetti. The Danube is the great artery of that elusive territory known as Mitteleuropa, from which so many of the most fascinating people and ideas of European history have emerged, and Magris has produced a wonderful celebration of it in a book that effortlessly combines erudition and writing of the highest quality.

Editorial Reviews

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 This sequence of stately tableaux is steeped in cultural and historical references to the likes of Kafka and Kepler, Haydn, Heidegger, Elias Canetti, George Konrad, Vasko Popa.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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860468233
• ISBN-13: 978-1860468230
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 4.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Travel > Europe > Austria

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An esoteric, yet intriguing, journey, April 4, 2001

By 

J. Rabideau (Stuck in the Loser State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea (Paperback)

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.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A river of memory, June 15, 2005

By 

Guillermo Maynez (Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Danube (Panther S.) (Paperback)

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.

38 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Danube is a Long River, October 9, 2001

By 

Ron Hunka (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Danube (Panther S.) (Paperback)

Danube
Claudio Magris
2001
ISBN 1-86046-823-3

I have seen the Danube at Donauwoerth in Germany and Linz and Melk in Austria. When I came across Claudio Magris' book, I was interested enough to buy it. Magris' book about the Danube is an unusual one. It is not a travel book, but more the historical reflections of a man visiting centuries-old towns along the river from where it originates in Germany to where it ends in the Black Sea in Rumania.

Since I have visited or read about some of the towns along the Danube in the German-speaking world, I found that part of the book more interesting. I knew less about the other countries -- Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Rumania, and I did not relate as well to that part of the book.

On the whole, there are some obstacles to overcome in reading this book. The writer's style is rather wordy and rambling. In one sentence, for example, I counted seventy-five words. There are endless literary and historical references, many of which are somewhat obscure. For me, eventually they grew tiresome. The book, in English, is a translated work. At points, one wonders if the rendering of sentences such as, "That life which the photograph fixed in one of its instants is vanished forever", could not have been translated in plainer English.

Still, some of this book is good reading. Magris' story about the director of the river works at Linz who spent a lifetime marking out the confines of the upper Danube and wrote a three volume work of 2,164 pages about all the aspects of the river from the different types of rafts and barges to the poems, songs, plays, and novels that related to the river is amusing. At the other extreme, Magris' description of visiting the terrible stone quarry at Mauthausen concentration camp that the Nazis set up on the Danube, where 110,000 people died, is disturbing.

On the whole, I would say this book is interesting reading in places. Elsewhere, it drags a bit. For example, consider a sentence such as, "Are the Istrians therefore Thracians, as Apollodorus thought, or Colchians, according to the view of Pliny and Strabo, or are they Gepids? "

Perhaps, the main problem with "Danube" is that the scope and coverage of the book are simply too great. The countries through which the lower reaches of the Danube flow do not have so much in common with those of the German-speaking part of the Danube. Like the Nile, it is a very long river, and, similarly it comes into contact with a number of lands with differing cultural traditions and histories. The Danube as an organizational theme for Magris' reflections about history and literature falters in the face of the great diversity of the material. Also, there is the question of if this book is really about the Danube or more a vehicle for Magris' wide-ranging interests.