The Duality Between the Visible and the Hidden in Austerlitz
“Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.” (Magritte)
The book Austerlitz, written by W. G. Sebald depicts the life of Jacques Austerlitz, a boy who was sent away from his family in Prague to an adoptive family in Bala, Wales to flee from the perils of the Second World War. To protect himself from these traumatizing memories, Austerlitz unconsciously builds fortifications around them to never think about them again. Thus, as an adult, he needs to painfully reconstruct his past to finally be at peace. The theme of the book is embodied by the quote mentioned above of Rene Magritte. Firstly, the first two sentences of the quote will explain the duality between the visible and the hidden, and it will relate to how Austerlitz handles the coexistence of the hidden and the visible: his traumatic memories and their impact on his life. Secondly, the last part of the quote will discuss the conflict between the visible and the hidden, and this will be linked to Austerlitz’s own internal conflict: depression.
The two first sentences of Magritte’s quote are the keys to understand W. G. Sebald’s book. These sentences explain that the visible that is present, and the visible that is hidden can both exist within someone. He also says that there is an interest in discovering what is hidden. This part of the quote expresses one of the main themes of the book: the duality of the visible and the hi...
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...ression, due to his inaccessible memories, is a direct example of the truthfulness of Magritte’s quote on the relationship between the visible that is hidden, and the visible that is present.
To conclude, Magritte’s quote represents well one of the main themes of the book, which is the duality between the hidden and the visible and how it affects someone. Austerlitz’s past memories, which are kept hidden from himself by his subconscious, interfere with his vision of reality, which represents the visible. This duality creates a conflict, which takes the form of a serious mental breakdown, and makes him realize that his life is meaningless without what is hidden in plain sight: his past memories. Thus, Austerlitz’s life is a concrete example of the application of Magritte’s quote, and it could apply to anyone who deals with the presence of both visible and hidden.
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