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A Legacy
"The Kaiser's Germany is the setting in which three families - one from solid, upholstered Jewish Berlin, the others from the somnolent, agrarian Catholic south - become comically, tragically, irrevocably intertwined. "Each family," writes the author, "stood confident of being able to go on with what was theirs, while in fact they were playthings, often victims, of the now...more
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
March 1st 1984
by Ecco Press
(first published 1956)
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Mar 29, 2013
Suzanne Stroh
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
lesbian-literary-history,
literary-fiction
My reviews here are summary, not comprehensive, so I won't clarify the story for readers who are on the fence about reading a difficult novel. I think of this book as combining the depth and lushness (and vague loveliness) of Proust with the 19th century novel tradition of Buddenbrooks or similar. Bedford lays out a sophistocated accounting of the Kaiser's Germany in many areas, and if you are looking for a a book like Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi) which seeks to explain the root causes of...more
('trEZ(j)U@(r), -@(r)) Forms: 2–6 tresor, 3–6 -ur, -our, 4–6 -ore, -oure, 5 -owre, -er, 5–6 -ure, 5 treysour, treasoure, 5–6 -our, 6 -or, 6– treasure. (Also 4–5 trissor, 4–6 tressour, 7 treassour; 4 thresur, 5–6 -our, -oure, 6 threasour, -ure.) [In 12th c. tresor, a. OF. tresor (11th c. in Littré):—pop.L. of Gaul *trUsaur-us for cl.L. thUsaur-us (whence Pr. thesaur, OCat. tesor, Sp., It. tesoro, Pg. thesouro), a. Gr. hgratq¾| treasure. Cf. the Sc. thesaur.]
1. a. Wealth or riches stored or accu...more
1. a. Wealth or riches stored or accu...more
An extraordinary elliptical novel written in a concise, elegant and slightly distant style. I loved this book from the first paragraph and was surprised to read so many negative reviews on Goodreads. Don't be dissuaded from reading this beautiful book full of irony and subtle humour if you are a reader who enjoys doing a bit of the work and does not expect to be guided through every character and plot development with the literary equivalent of airport runway lights. The book is to some extent a...more
I am still reading it, and it has a cumulative effect, with striking portraits of people, and an age. It has "the English disease". By this I mean that, somehow, one is oppressed by a stink of class, not in the actual subject matter but the stance of the writer.
The same oppression emanates from English "working class books" (whatever these may be). Maybe it is a problem unique to England? England, after all, does not have intellectuals. German or French intellectuals are elevated above petty no...more
The same oppression emanates from English "working class books" (whatever these may be). Maybe it is a problem unique to England? England, after all, does not have intellectuals. German or French intellectuals are elevated above petty no...more
This was an exceptionally difficult book to read, largely because of the author's habit of not clearly introducing characters, relationships or events, but leaving the reader somehow to devine what is going on. The writing is highly stylised, and the dialogue is opaque.
The setting, newly united Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is potentially an interesting one, and students of that period would probably understand a great deal more of the subtext than I did. Clearly...more
The setting, newly united Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is potentially an interesting one, and students of that period would probably understand a great deal more of the subtext than I did. Clearly...more
1 like · like · see review
Sketchy.
Some clever dialogue (reminiscent of an Ivy Compton-Burnett novel) interspersed with undeveloped characters in a family drama set in Wilhelmine Germany. There's some wit about the follies of the bourgeoisie in Pre-World War I Europe. In the better parts, it reminded me of a Germanic "Galsworthy Saga." But there's just too much missing. It's like watching a foreign language film without subtitles. And I gave up caring at all about the characters about half-way through. Moreover, the whole...more
Some clever dialogue (reminiscent of an Ivy Compton-Burnett novel) interspersed with undeveloped characters in a family drama set in Wilhelmine Germany. There's some wit about the follies of the bourgeoisie in Pre-World War I Europe. In the better parts, it reminded me of a Germanic "Galsworthy Saga." But there's just too much missing. It's like watching a foreign language film without subtitles. And I gave up caring at all about the characters about half-way through. Moreover, the whole...more
Bedford is one of the most underrated great writers of our times and she seems totally unknown here in the US. Her trilogy, composed of the following titles: A Compass Error / A Favorite of the Gods / A Legacy, is a wonderful story based on her own life in Europe betweent the two wars. Those three different novels really make up for one unique book, and need to be read together. The result is a masterpiece, tender and comical, which makes you wish you had met Bedford in her young age. Worthy of...more
Jan 09, 2011
Lizzie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
read-in-2007
In 2005 when I read and loved a quartet of novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard, dedicated to Sybille Bedford, I started looking for her books. This is a novel written in the 50s about three turn of the century European families and how their different styles bring them to grief when they intermarry. I liked it, though it’s quite opaque. I wasn’t sure I understood everyone’s motivations since they’re mostly implied.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I think I was expecting it to be difficult - but it really wasn't - and I found that period of history fascinating to learn about from a domestic perspective! However, I think my enjoyment might have come from the fact that I read Game of Thrones (the first one) and the Monsters of Templeton before this (and I didn't enjoy or finish either one of those)!
Wonderful biography memoir of a very eccentric father and life in the Kaiser's Germany. A luscious portrait of life with wealthy grandparents in Berlin. Did you know there was such a thing as early breakfast and late breakfast. Be sure to read this before you read the memoir of mother in Jigsaw. The final installment is Quicksands where adjustment to memories are made.
I found it intereting but I don't think I 'got' it in the sense that I don't really understand what the author was trying to illustrate beyond making some sense out of her own experiences (the novel is heavily biographical) and depicting life as it was for some very specific people around the turn of the last century. Which is not a bad thing for a novel to do, but I just can't quite figure out how to think about it. Also, I usually enjoy obliqueness, but some of the exchanges between Sarah and...more
1 like · like · see review
I really enjoyed this book. It was written in the 1950s which surprised me as the style appears to be from a much older age. I found this refreshing. The narrative goes along at quite a clip and refers to Impressionism, Spain, the south of France all subjects which interest me as well as the history of Germany at the end of the 19th century.
I wanted to like this book, a novel about wealthy German families in the pre-World War One era. There are funny parts, but this classic is so disjointed that I had trouble following the plot. Maybe I'm missing something?
Really difficult to follow. By the end of the book I had no idea who was who anymore. I hate when there is no translation for parts written in other languages.
Shades of Ivy Compton-Burnett, but far more readable! Beautifully crafted and very atmospheric.
Amazing elliptical writer, great story of European eccentrics between the wars.
Mar 16, 2012
Lobstergirl
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Meghan McCain
The plot - such as it was - had potential: two interrelated upper-class families in Wilhelmine Germany, one Jewish, the other Catholic, a few difficult marriages, and one son's terrible experience at a harsh cadet school which would have repercussions for the entire family. The execution was horrid. Critics intend it as a compliment when they say someone writes dialogue like Ivy Compton-Burnett; it's not. Consider it the kiss of death.
OK, This book was recommended by an author I really like in one of those back of the book interviews. I wish I could remember who it was. While the subject matter is interesting (Germany at the turn of the century) and something I did not know much about, the plot rises and falls. It is quite good in places, and extremely tedious in others. I have not finished it, I have about 1/4 left to go. I may finish it yet...
This read more like an outline of a novel than like a fully developed novel, but, still, I did find myself absorbed in the scenes and the world of pre World War I Germany Bedford describes here.
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Sybille Bedford, OBE (16 March 1911 – 17 February 2006) was a German-born English writer. Many of her works are partly autobiographical. Julia Neuberger proclaimed her "the finest woman writer of the 20th century" while Bruce Chatwin saw her as "one of the most dazzling practitioners of modern English prose.
Works
The Sudden View: a Mexican Journey - 1953 - (republished as A Visit to Don Otavio: a T...more
More about Sybille Bedford...
Works
The Sudden View: a Mexican Journey - 1953 - (republished as A Visit to Don Otavio: a T...more
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