3.1 The mysterious survival of the written word132: Literary references in W. G. Sebald The mediation between memory and forgetfulness through the word is shown right at the beginning of the narrative of The Rings of Saturn: immobilized in the hospital, the narrator feels the urgency to take notes - at least, mentally - of the entire journey of the pilgrimage. Attached to the cutout image of the hospital window, as pointed out in the chapter on Space, what happens is a kind of comparison with Gregor Samsa133, famous character of Kafka - a constant literary reference in Sebald's work. It is noticeable, since the beginning, that kind of attraction of the written word that frequently emerges in the passages of the book. It is in the record of the final point of writing by the narrator – one year after being discharged from the hospital, as already mentioned – that the references are inserted even more actively in the narrative. When evoking the figure of Michael Parkinson, whose trace of compatibility with Sebald himself gives evidence of the book's autobiographical tone134 a mention is made of Ramuz, also a writer. Here, it is important to return to the notion of the practice of walking linked to the literary activity, persistent evidence in Sebald's prose. In this sense, the author seems to follow the idea defended by Thomas Bernhard135 – another writer of his deep admiration: there is a permanent relationship between the act of walking and thinking136.
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The title in question was taken from the narrative of The Rings of Saturn (SEBALD, 2010, page (101). 133 “In the contorted posture of a creature that stood upright for the first time, I was leaning against the glass and involuntarily thinking about the scene in which poor Gregor Samsa, his trembling legs, climbs the chair and looks out of the room, with an indistinct memory, so he says, of the feeling of freedom that before allowed him to look out the window.” (SEBALD, 2010, page 15, (own translation) 134 Parkinson, like Sebald, was a professor of literature at the University of East Anglia. 135 Openly, a reference to Sebald, as can be extracted from the author’s interviews. In addition, Bernhard’s writings are the subject of analysis in the book The Description of Unhappiness, originally written by Sebald in 1985. 136 Bernhard writes in Walking [1971]: “Walking and thinking are in a perpetual relationship that is based on trust. Cit. by POPOVA, Maria – Thomas Bernhard on Walking, Thinking and the Paradox of Self-Reflection.
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