Tag Archives: Autobiography

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A Life Spent Searching – the Travels and Writing of Annemarie Schwarzenbach

It’s mainly the reason why every October I write about all the books I’ve read in the last year, that some remain in my thoughts. Isabel Cole’s translation of Annamarie Schwarzenbach’s All Roads are Open is one of these, as well as having the kind of attention to typography, layout, and design that … well, makes me less likely to spill a late-night snack in bed over.

Which is to say, it’s already near the top of everything I’ve read in the last six months. I also read Ella Maillart’s The Cruel Way and Vita Sackville-West’s Twelve Days in Persia as a result, and Annamarie makes them both read like spoilt upper-class nobs whose only talent is the distinct whiff of colonial racism – I kept thinking if I was traveling with them I’d be obliged to leave them stranded and be off with their car and money because that’s all they’re good for. Perhaps being hooked on heroin gave Annamarie an empathy absent in these others; it did wonders for William Burroughs also. At very least, her translation into english adds a great deal to 20th century Central Asia writing.

25 April, 2012
20:00
Dialogue Books
Schönleinstraße 31
Berlin, Germany

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Journalist, novelist, antifascist, archaeologist, world traveler, the Swiss writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908-1942) became a European cult figure following her rediscovery in the 1990s. At long last, her works are also appearing in English via Seagull Books.

To celebrate, join Dialogue Books as we host Alexis Schwarzenbach, the writer’s grandnephew and the leading expert on her life and work. He and Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s translators Lucy Renner Jones and Isabel Fargo Cole will also read from a selection of her works suggesting the breadth of her concerns and creativity. Lyric Novella is the tale of a young “man’s” love for a nightclub singer in decadent Weimar-era Berlin, while Death in Persia is a more open exploration of lesbian love and existential anguish against the background of 1930’s Teheran, and All the Roads Are Open is an account of Schwarzenbach’s epic journey in a Ford from Switzerland to Afghanistan on the eve of World War II.

ABOUT

Annemarie Schwarzenbach, born in 1908 to one of Switzerland’s most prominent families, published her first novel at the age of 23. Her friends Klaus and Erika Mann introduced her to artistic circles, and she scandalized her conservative family by living an openly lesbian lifestyle and supporting leftwing political causes. From 1933 to 1941 she took numerous trips in Europe, the USSR, the United States, the Near East and Africa as a photojournalist covering social and political issues, while also publishing novels and short fiction. After the outbreak of World War II she sought ways to take political action, helping the Manns’ anti-Fascist efforts, but increasingly succumbed to depression and drug addiction.

Annemarie Schwarzenbach died in 1942 in Switzerland following a bicycle accident.

Annamarie Schwarzenbach Annamarie Schwarzenbach
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Reading… a 2nd anniversary

My reading the last year has not been of either the volume, nor the breadth of the previous, in no small part due to months of poverty, wherein I was reduced to reading the labels of bottles for intellectual nourishment.

Later lack of time intruded from what should be my life’s purpose, to read read read. If I manage a book or so a week, then I can expect a paltry two to three thousand remaining. Which shall they be? And then the ones I read more than once. Iain Banks’ The Crow Road is up to its fourth reading, I think. Empire of the Sun is one I should have read long ago, but was leery because of the film.

Some books here I don’t regard so highly from a literary perspective, perhaps not so well written, or other reasons to normally dismiss them. The arrive here – notably Three Cups of Tea because of the affect they have on my life, perhaps in conjunction with conversations with others. Of course, no book is alone.

I do not feel though, that I have read a truly remarkable book in the last year. Hannah and Theodor aside, even Iain for that matter. I am attempting amends for the coming year.

j.g. ballard – empire of the sun

ohran pamuk - istanbul ohran pamuk – istanbul

zhao ziyang - prisoner of the state zhao ziyang – prisoner of the state

europe between the oceans - barry cunliffe europe between the oceans – barry cunliffe

charles stross - halting state charles stross – halting state

greg mortenson - three cups of tea greg mortenson – three cups of tea

theodor adorno – aesthetic theory

tracey emin - strangeland tracey emin – strangeland

hanna arendt - the life of the mind hanna arendt – the life of the mind

sarah waters - tipping the velvet sarah waters – tipping the velvet

wildwood - a journey through trees - roger deakin wildwood – a journey through trees – roger deakin

iain banks - the crow road iain banks – the crow road

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Reading… an anniversary

A year ago in the briefest of lines, I began keeping a list of the books I’ve digested… burp.

What remains, here, are some that for various reasons had a profound effect on me at the time and when I think of them, I remember, ‘oh, yes…’ where I was, the pages, words, some lines, as if rather than I reading the book, some of me was unravelled and is left there, strung and tangled around letters and bindings.

What is sad I think, is I haven’t read more, and more widely, and that so many words which have moved me come from books I have yet to read, snippets and a few caught paragraphs. Oh I need someone to indulge me my addiction.

…

Well perhaps satisfied the last need a little… but… At very least I need to join the library around the corner (and a bit) which has a vast quantity of the kind of books I like in English. Still, I prefer to own, so I can sprinkle crumbs, smear peanut butter, and dribble coffee on the pages with impunity.

judith butler – undoing gender judith butler – undoing gender

iain banks - the business iain banks – the business

julia serano - whipping girl julia serano – whipping girl

anne fausto-sterling- sexing the body anne fausto-sterling- sexing the body

rosanne klass - land of the high flags rosanne klass – land of the high flags

afghanistan - louis dupree afghanistan – louis dupree

liao yiwu - the corpse walker liao yiwu – the corpse walker

harriet evans - the subject of gender harriet evans – the subject of gender

leslie feinburg - stone butch blues leslie feinburg – stone butch blues

william gibson - pattern recognition william gibson – pattern recognition

iain m banks - feersum endjinn iain m banks – feersum endjinn

walter benjamin - berlin childhood around 1900 walter benjamin – berlin childhood around 1900

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Reading: Walter Benjamin – Berlin Childhood around 1900

The last few days I have enjoyed the rather delectable company of a hobo formerly from Berlin, now residing in Kent, oysters, brot… philosophy, Berlinerin. She found for me, as a memory of much talking on both our shared and unknown writerly loves, and my current lack of new reading and Hanna Ardent, two books of Walter Benjamin. Not quite as good as having her quote him to me in German, but a sublime way to pass the next few days anyhow.

walter benjamin - berlin childhood around 1900 walter benjamin – berlin childhood around 1900