Instantáneas

by Claudio Magris, Pilar González Rodríguez (Translator)

El lector encontrará aquí textos breves capaces de capturar lo que tiende a escurrirse entre los dedos, de retratar con perspicacia y acidez comportamientos humanos, de observar el mundo con una sofisticada mezcla de humor, melancolía, bondad y sabiduría. El resultado es un ramillete de deliciosas miniaturas en las que asoman temas, personajes y situaciones variopintos: la ciudad de Trieste; un episodio cómico vivido en la Galería Leo Castelli de Nueva York que ilustra las imposturas del arte de vanguardia; el modo ridículo en que Thomas Mann se entera del inicio de la Segunda Guerra Mundial; los editores que imponen finales felices a los autores a los que publican; el secreto motivo por el que una conferencia muy erudita y potencialmente soporífera se llena a rebosar; los congresos culturales y el sexo; la soledad de las parejas…

Genres: Italy, Nonfiction, Essays, Italian Literature, Literature

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2016

About the author

Claudio Magris was born in Trieste in the year 1939. He graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978.

His most well known book is Danubio (1986), which is a magnum opus. In this book Magris tracks the course of the Danube from its sources to the sea. The whole trip evolves into a colorful, rich canvas of the multicultural European history.

He's translated the works of Ibsen, Kleist and Schnitzler, among others, and he also published essays about Robert Musil, Jorge Luis Borges, Hermann Hesse and many others.

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blue, the colour of distance and longing

We are almost all blind curators, reluctant or otherwise unable to believe that things can change. We mistake the reality in which we are used to living for nature, for an order of things that it would perhaps be desirable but ingenuous to hope for change. We mistake the façade of what’s real for the only possible, definitive reality, without noticing what is constantly, incessantly pressing behind it and continually changing it – at times slowly, almost inadvertently, at other times at a sensational pace.



Snapshots is a collection of 48 short pieces the Italian scholar, novelist and essayist Claudio Magris wrote for the Corriere della Sera between 1999 and 2016. I decided to read this collection as I wished to get a flavour of Magris’s thoughts and writing style before engaging into that somewhat intimidating, dense and allegedly complex Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea, which I have been postponing for quite some years now.

The short pieces take the reader from Norway to Manhattan, from Berlin to the Artic to Varanasi and New York back to Budapest and Stockholm, time and again reverting to Magris’s mythical hometown, Trieste. Snapping the moment mostly metaphorically and a few times for real by musing on a photograph, observing a couple in a café, or interactions at the stone beach of Barcola, Magris reflects on small scenes he witnesses, stories told by from friends or anecdotes from newspapers as a starting point to ruminate on a variety of subjects: from modern sensitivities instigating censorship of ancient literature, the art of translation, why people write, the sense of European citizenship, the absurdity of reorganising academic education on economic terms, freedom, love and human folly (including his own).



On the riviera of Barcola, in Trieste. Riviera, so to speak; a thin strip of rocky coastline, a free beach that runs along the main road to the city, water that quickly becomes deep, tamarisks on the shore, foamy as waves, a vast, open expanse of sea, which in childhood gave a sense of oceanic immensity, in a sentimental education in which the bond between Eros and the sea was learned for all time. (On the rocky beach)

Some pieces illustrate the futility of la comédie humaine as funnily magnified by a few examples from academic life. In A crowd for no one a professor in mathematics, lecturing as a guest in the Collège de France, is surprised finding such a big crowd attending his pretty hermetic lectures, only comprehensible for the few world experts in that field – while in truth he learns the audience just sits there to secure their place not to miss the lectures of Roland Barthes scheduled after him.

His flair in criticising contemporary phenomena and ethical questions like decisions on storing frozen embryo’s, reminded me of my ethics professor at law school well-known for his crosswise thinking. Magris is not the one who is going to howl with the wolves in the forest, and often his insights go against the grain. Where it would be easy to scorn, mock or sigh, like when seeing an old couple not talking to each other but glued to their phones, he finely points at such sloppy thinking and contemplates the importance of mutual respect for one’s desire for solitude in marriage (Mute scenes of a marriage).



Certain places are sometimes virtually one with our persona; they are a modality of our relationship with the world. Places signify landscapes, natural or manmade or better yet both, the lake and the cottage on its shore inseparable in a poem by Brecht. Places especially signify people, more or less familiar or nearly strangers but in any case witnesses, albeit partial, of our existence. (The rocky beach of the famous)

Some pieces moved me, capturing a glimpse of essential humanity (the small friendly gesture of concern of a refugee towards Magris sitting down in a street (Everything’s all right) or some beautiful thoughts on love, showing a more tender side of Magris. More often than not however the sarcastic tone and the merciless eye of Magris struck me, from the power play he discerns in matrimonial quibbles he observes (On the tracks), to his severe judging of Thomas Mann (The sacred hours). If writing from the curmudgeon perspective(reminding me a little of Flaubert’s letters), Magris steers clear from the predictable or gratuitous one of the cultural conservative abominating modern times. Although his tone isn’t flippant, it is the light and elegant touch in his musings which make his observations palatable, as well as the self-irony.

Besides that slightly bitter tone and his razor-sharp observations of fellow humans, I also was perplexed by some of his thought-provoking insights, making me veer from surprise over approval to irritation. Isn’t indifference the worst kind of response one can imagine to a book? By his own collection Magris convincingly illustrates the point he make in A new writer: the censor ironically quoting Paul Valéry that books help us not to think: obviously certain books make one think, and his collection achieves such pretty brilliantly.



Four pieces of this collection can be read here.
(*** ½)

(Copyright pictures of Trieste Mauro & Sara)

[Sónia Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro composto por pequenas histórias, expostas como se de curtos instantâneos fotográficos se tratassem, e carregadas de um humor quase absurdo, que nos transportam para as ironias do quotidiano simples.

"Ilustre matemático dedicado a inalcançáveis estudos ultraespecializados e apenas acessíveis a poucos da área, fora convidado para dar um curso anual numa prestigiosa instituição interdisciplinar, (...) Já o próprio título do curso anunciado desencorajava os incompetentes, ou seja, quase todos os milhões de habitantes da Terra (...) mas o cientista que esperava no máximo uns poucos ouvintes, ficou estupefacto, na primeira aula, ao encontrar diante de si trezentas ou quatrocentas pessoas. (...)
Convencido de que se tratava de um equívoco, esperava que na segunda aula a multidão se volatizasse. Nas aulas seguintes, porém, a massa aumentou ainda mais. A certa altura, cheio de curiosidade, perguntou a uma senhora, sentada na primeira fila com ar de típica e assídua consumidora de todas as conferências, (...) A senhora respondeu, seráfica:
"Ah, não sei, nós estamos aqui porque nesta sala, na hora a seguir, vai falar Roland Barthes e, se não viermos mais cedo, ficamos sem lugar."
E assim o matemático, durante todo o ano, dirigiu-se a uma sala para dar aulas a uma multidão transbordante totalmente desinteressada nele."

[Lito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μικρά αφηγήματα εμπνευσμένα από στιγμιότυπα της καθημερινότητας.
Το στιγμιότυπο, σύμφωνα με τον ορισμό του Μπατάλια, πραγματοποιείται σε σύντομο χρόνο έκθεσης και χωρίς τη χρήση στηρίγματος.
Έτσι και αυτα τα μικρά αφηγήματα λειτουργούν ανεξάρτητα.
Σκέψεις καταγεγραμμένες πάνω σε απλά καθημερινά γεγονότα, όπως η συζήτηση ενός ζευγαριού στο μετρό ή η τραγελαφική εμπειρία με τη γραμμή καταναλωτή, αλλά και στοχασμοί πάνω σε σημαντικά γεγονότα που σημάδεψαν τον 20ο αιώνα, όπως η πτώση του Τείχους, αλλά και η εγκαθίδρυση του Σταλινισμού στην πρώην Σοβιετική Ένωση, η αποτυχία των προαναγγελθεισών αξιών της και η τραγική διαφθορά της.
Σκέψεις για την αγάπη αλλά και την μοναξιά. Για τον θάνατο.
Με το γνωστό διεισδυτικό αλλά και ειρωνικό μερικές φορές ύφος, χωρίς όμως να χάνει το χιούμορ του, ο Μαγκρις μας καλεί να παρατηρήσουμε μαζί του τους γύρω μας, αλλά πρωτίστως τον εαυτό μας και την πραγματικότητα που μας περιβάλλει. Να αφουγκραστούμε τον παλμό της και να νιώσουμε τις μεταβολές της.
Η γραφή του σχεδόν ποιητική.
Κάτι διαφορετικό από τα αξεπέραστα κατά τη γνώμη μου “Δούναβης” και “Μικρόκοσμοι”, αλλά αδιαμφισβήτητα άξιο ανάγνωσης και περισυλλογής.
Μία αναγνωστική απόλαυση...
Μία σπουδαία προσωπικότητα των σύγχρονων γραμμάτων, που συγκαταλέγω πλέον στους αγαπημένους μου.

[Anima · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crowd for no one
“At some point, intrigued, he asked a woman seated in the front row —wearing the look of a typical assiduous conference attendee— whether the topic and its development were not too difficult, presupposing knowledge that is way too sophisticated, impossible for an average listener. The woman replied seraphically, “Oh, I wouldn’t know, we’re here because an hour after you Roland Barthes is speaking in this hall; otherwise we won’t find a seat.”

“In the end, what happened in that hall is not unlike what more or less happens, albeit in a less evident form, at almost all conferences, in which no one listens to anyone and therefore everyone talks to no one. You take a seat, you put on a serious, nobly interested face the way you put on a tie, and you give yourself up to the drift of your own thoughts, just as the speaker gives himself up to the drift of his own words. So often, and not only in conference halls, we talk without listening to one another and pass each other as distant strangers, promptly swallowed up by the crowd, having left to die the possibility of an encounter, of friendship, of love.”

Be with or go with
“To ‘go with’ is frank, honest Eros, which does not make false promises to be lasting, either to oneself or to others ....and because of this forthright lack of illusion can offer tenderness, affection and friendship that will last beyond the brief encounter.”

[Pedro Alhinho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mais do que instantâneos fotográficos o autor dá-nos breves apanhados cinematográficos do homem em interação social e relacional. Porque, afinal, amamos o que nos falta.
Espalhados no tempo, ao longo de um quarto de século, estes escritos também ilustram a mudança para um mundo de comunicação permanente em que paradoxalmente todos se encontram mais sós.

[Aleksandra Pasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magris jest rewelacyjnym obserwatorem rzeczywistości. Wrażliwym, ale i wspaniale ironicznym, o ciętym języku (a bez tego nic nie smakuje). Punktuje celnie. Niebywale dużo w tych esejach treści, czytałam je drugi raz i myślę, że kiedyś przeczytam je ponownie, a nie jest to moją częstą praktyką.
Nic tych tekstów nie łączy (tematycznie) poza tytułową migawkowością, chwilowością, która jednak daje się pięknie rozsmarować na szerszą i bardziej uniwersalną refleksję.
Polecam na poranki i "jak powiada Don Kichot, niech każdy rozliczy się w własnym grzechem".

[René Paquin · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’aime Claudio Magris. J’aime ses livres, les lieux qu’il visite, le Trieste qu’il habite et qu’il décrit à petites touches. J’aime la plage de Barcola, la route qui longe la mer à l’entrée de Trieste, qu’il décrit toujours dans les mêmes mots, avec juste assez de variantes pour nous faire rêver de voir ce « théâtre du monde », avec ses foules bigarées, agitées, qui sait jouir des plaisirs de la mer, même lorsque le corps d’un homme noyé repose au soleil, couvert d’un simple drap. Tous les textes ne sont pas parfaits, mais ceux qui sont réussis le sont vraiment. Et la ville de Trieste, qui a la prétention d’être la frontière entre deux mondes, se révèle aussi fascinante que sa belle voisine, Venise.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 5 out of 5]

da: http://capitolo23.com/2018/08/25/le-i...

E' in qualche modo bello e infinitamente opportuno che questa raccolta di scritti di Claudio Magris sia pubblicata da La nave di Teseo nella collana I fari: strutture che, e cito Wikipedia, "dotate alla sommità di un sistema capace di emettere potenti segnali luminosi di aiuto e di riferimento nella navigazione". E io non riesco a immaginare, nel desolato panorama politico, sociale, giuridico di questi anni, un segnale di riferimento nello scenario intellettuale contemporaneo più ampio, acuto, attento di quello che ci regala Claudio Magris.

Quelli raccolti in Istantanee non sono racconti, non sono semplici brani autobiografici, sono un oggetto narrativo di non facile definizione: a me sono sembrate quarantotto finestre aperte su panorami differenti, raggi di sole che illuminano una brughiera, luci (appunto) che mostrano la costa durante una navigazione in un mare burrascoso. Dal semplice ricordo di un oste alle due chiacchiere scambiate a Barcola, dalla riflessione sulla pomposa conferenza e su suoi effetti sul volto di un amico alla semplicità di due bambini che giocano in spiaggia, Magris ci mostra che l'essere umano può (deve) essere migliore di quello che ultimamente dimostriamo. Non so a te, ma a me sembra qualcosa di gigantesco.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordering this book sight unseen because I thoroughly enjoyed both Danube and Microcosms, I was slightly disappointed to see that this book does indeed contain 'snapshots.' More like newspaper feuilletons than the more developed essays on Trieste and Mitteleuropean authors I had hoped for. Still interesting as these one to two page pieces give the reader insights into Magris' thoughts and opinions on more mundane things.

[Sümeyye Yıldız]

Aklım okuyamadığım en son yazılardan birinde kaldı.

[Stef Smulders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claudio Magris kende ik alleen van zijn magnum opus ’Donau’, dat ik niet had durven openslaan, beducht als ik was voor de letterlijk en figuurlijk grenzeloze eruditie van deze Italiaanse schrijver en denker.
Toen ik elf jaar geleden naar Italië verhuisde, kwam ik Magris echter al snel tegen als commentator van de eerbiedwaardige krant ‘Corriere della Sera’, die je in elke bar kunt openslaan. Destijds was een van de grote kwesties die van het lot van het meisje Eluana Englaro dat na een ongeluk in coma lag. Na een jarenlang juridisch gevecht had de hoogste rechter eindelijk besloten dat aan het onwaardige leven van Eluana een einde mocht worden gemaakt. Maar een aantal politieke partijen van rechts-katholieke snit ging daarmee niet akkoord en deed onder leiding van premier Berlusconi een uiterste poging om door middel van een noodwet het hoogste oordeel dat in een rechtsstaat te verkrijgen is, ongeldig te verklaren. De mediamagnaat-politicus liet zich daarmee kennen als iemand met een totaal gebrek aan discretie en fatsoen. Gelukkig overleed Eluana voordat de politici hun snode plannetjes konden uitvoeren. Op de dag van haar overlijden verscheen de Corriere met midden op de voorpagina een opiniestuk van Claudio Magris, waarvan de tekst me nu nog steeds kippenvel bezorgd.
“In het geval van Eluana Englaro hebben de aasgieren, die zich normaliter op de doden storten, zich naast een stervende genesteld; het onoplosbare, tragische probleem van wanneer te stoppen een leven te verdedigen, is openlijk gebruikt voor een politieke zaak…”
Aasgieren, inderdaad. Een zeer grove term uit de pen van een gewoonlijk zo genuanceerde schrijver die er kennelijk maar nauwelijks in slaagde om zijn woede over het wanstaltige tafereel te beheersen. Zeer onder de indruk las ik daarna al zijn, lang niet altijd eenvoudige stukken in de Corriere.

Een tijd later waagde ik me ook aan een korter fictie-werk van Magris, als een opstapje naar de gevreesde kolos ’Danubio’. Helaas, ik strandde al na een paar pagina’s. Hoe vaak ik het ook probeerde, ik kwam er niet doorheen. Magris’ proza leek wel een woud vol ondoordringbaar struikgewas. Heel spijtig want ik bleef hem een fascinerende persoon vinden en zijn korte stukken in Corriere bleef ik lezen. En gelukkig, onlangs verscheen het boek ’Momentopnamen’, een verzameling korte observaties die de schrijver de afgelopen twintig jaar voor de Corriere geschreven heeft. Dit durfde ik wel aan!

De meeste stukken in de bundel blijken inderdaad goed leesbaar, al kan ik veel van de verwijzingen naar schrijvers, filosofen en andere intellectuelen die Magris voor de vuist weg rondstrooit niet thuisbrengen. Net zomin als de meeste lezers vermoed ik. Wie weet bijvoorbeeld waar hij op doelt als hij het heeft over ‘het moment van verstandhouding met een passerende vrouw in het lied van Brassens’? Nou, ik toevallig, heel toevallig, want ik ben een liefhebber van de chansonnier Georges Brassens en ken vrijwel al zijn teksten! Soms heb je geluk. Het zijn echter veelal overbodige verwijzingen die weinig toevoegen aan het verhaal. Je zou kunnen denken dat de auteur met opzet aan name dropping doet, maar dat geloof ik ook weer niet; daar is Magris de persoon niet naar.

In de stukken staan los van de moeilijke verwijzingen zeker interessante, zelfs diepzinnige observaties. Neem dit bijvoorbeeld:
“We zijn bijna allemaal conservatieve blinden, niet gauw geneigd of zelfs niet in staat te geloven dat de dingen kunnen veranderen. We verwarren de realiteit waarin we gewend zijn te leven met de natuur, met een vaste bestaansorde, en beschouwen de hoop die te kunnen veranderen als wenselijk doch naïef. We verwarren de façade van de realiteit met de enig mogelijke en definitieve realiteit, zonder op te merken wat daarachter altijd en onophoudelijk in beweging is en haar voortdurend verandert – nu eens langzaam, bijna onmerkbaar, dan weer in een verbluffend tempo.”
Deze rake, diepzinnige opmerkingen die Magris maakt, zijn echter van een zwaarte die niet past bij de korte baan van het genre, ze horen eerder thuis in een doorwrocht essay. Nu zijn het losse vuurpijlen die na een korte explosie in het niets verdwijnen. In handen van een schrijver met talent voor het komische en anekdotische zou deze bundel evenwichtiger hebben kunnen worden, maar Magris is nu eenmaal niet voor luchtig vertier geboren.

Jammer genoeg is er ook geen enkele poging gedaan om eenheid in de verzameling te brengen. Het zou interessanter zijn als alle stukken over waarnemingen in Triëst zouden zijn gegaan, of over herinneringen aan personen die de auteur ontmoet heeft. Nu is het een allegaartje waar je als lezer geen grip op krijgt.
‘Momentopnamen’ is een bundel die voor kenners van de auteur interessant kan zijn, als tussendoortje. Maar voor ’beginners’ zal het een teleurstelling zijn.

[Old Man JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely splendid book of very short little essays on observations of everyday events and occurrences. There were numerous ones that I especially liked but I limited my comments to just a few. The first one titled At the Castelli Gallery had a lot of meaning for me because I owned an art gallery for almost forty years. It was about a protest the gallery was having about a court ruling by placing black cloth over the artwork when a woman came in and began studying each of the covered paintings and taking notes, thinking this was the artwork, pointing out the pretentious side of the art world. Another titled Forget Colors was about the fact that color does not actually exist and it is just different wavelengths of light that the mind perceives as color. Another essay titled A New Writer; the Censor was about censorship and the last essay I will discuss is titled The Sacred Hours which is about Thomas Mann's wife and daughter hesitating to disturb him while he was writing even though they had just heard on the radio that World War II had broken out. Claudio Magris is a sensational writer who does not get the recognition he deserves, at least here in America.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine a photo album composed of words. Snapshot 1: “What a relief for everyone, speakers and attendees, when the lecture ends.” Snapshot 2: “Ensuring compliance with the law is more demanding than violating it.” Snapshot 3: “The slave who enslaves his master does not thereby become free.” Can you see them? Eager for more? Check out Snapshots by Claudio Magris for a wealth of mini-essays on moments of life that often flit by unnoticed. As Magris observes, “We don’t hear the worm gnawing the wood, we don’t notice the chrysalis that will become the butterfly, we don’t perceive the clogging of History’s arteries.”

***

He who lives dies.

What a relief for everyone, speakers and attendees, when the lecture ends.

We don’t hear the worm gnawing the wood, we don’t notice the chrysalis that will become the butterfly, we don’t perceive the clogging of History’s arteries.

The slave who enslaves his master does not thereby become free.

Ensuring compliance with the law is more demanding than violating it.

[Martina Bahat · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ali naše je srce podmuklo i tisuće svakodnevnih peripetija - perilice suđa koje puštaju vodu, majstori kojih nikad nema, ključevi od kuće koje neprestano zagubljujemo, susjedi koji stalno galame - odražavaju se na naše raspoloženje čak i više nego jutarnja molitva, više od smrtnog ili sretnijeg slučaja, više od kakve lijepe poezije koje smo iznenada otkrili, od sata provedena u vođenju ljubavi, i sve to nije dovoljno da se gunđanje, koje se vrlo brzo vrati poslije toga sata ljubavi, ne nastavi."

Knjiga je vrlo slična Knjizi o travama čiji je autor Sandor Marai. To su maleni misaoni osvrti na proživljene događaje u kojima je sam autor više slučajan promatrač nego subjekt. Većina tih događaja, svakodnevnih senzacija, kako ih autor naziva, vezana je za određena mjesta, političke tokove, kulturne skupove iz prošlosti pa je današnjem čitatelju teško zadržati pažnju i interes, ali svakako je zanimljiva knjižica ako volite ovakvu vrstu tematike.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een welbeschreven inkijk in de blik van Magris. Met een tijdspanne van zo’n 20 jaar krijgt de lezer een variëteit aan korte observaties en essays voorgeschoteld waarbij een inkijkje wordt gegeven in de staat van Europa en de mensheid an sich, aldus Magris. Amusant én leerrijk, en dat in een kundige verpakking van taal.

[Federico Carciaghi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brevi immagini della nostra quotidianità, fulminee riflessioni che racchiudono le idiosincrasie, i vizi e le virtù di ognuno di noi. Giudizi brillanti presentati con l'ingenuità di un bambino ma che rivela taglienti verità. Il tutto marcato da leggero velo di ironia perché «solo quando puoi nuovamente ridere hai veramente perdonato».

[Raúl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parece que le sobraron a Magris unos cuantos artículos de su obra"Microcosmos"y decidieron lanzar una obra de escasas páginas.
A las editoriales no hay que perdonarles estas jugarretas.

[Angeliki Bookatson Savvidou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Απλά, τόσο απλά και εύστοχα α��ηγήματα που είναι σαν να μονολογείς παρατηρώντας τη ζωή γύρω σου. Ξεκουράζει το μυαλό

[Ptjerónimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se tivesse nascido alguns anos antes Claudio Magris teria sido muito provavemente, ou melhor quase certamente, um escritor neo-realista. Da linha dura. Esta consideração, escrita por mim, não é obviamente um elogio ou ou mesmo só abonatória. Não me esqueço de que a leitura da literatura neo-realista quando era adolescente me valeu muitos momentos de inútil amargura. Pode-se escrever sobre o mal de viver, sobre as injustiças de que o Mundo está repleto, sobre o destino miserável a que estão condenados muitos dos seus habitantes de muitas maneiras. A neo-realista é crua, azeda e parece comprazer-se nisso… Magris é claramente um intelectual, ou se quisermos restringir um pouco as margens dessa qualificação, um literato. Não o ponho em questão nesse plano.Em termos literários, todavia, está muito longe de ser brilhante. O seu estilo é complexo, lexicamente rico, mas carece de sensibilidade. Falta-lhe a magia encantatória que é para mim o apanágio de um grande escritor. Este livro é constituido por uma série de apontamentos/crónicas apresentados cronologicamente. Para além de incidirem sobre temas mais ou menos conexos com a Italia em geral e com Trieste muito em particular, nada liga essas crónicas excepto serem apresentadas numa sequência cronológica. Os temas são variados e tratados com seriedade (quando recorre ao humor Magris raramente é bem sucedido) mas não prendem muito a atenção do leitor. Leem-se.

[Irene Pedergnana · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Se la signora Irene è stata una tale piaga d'Egitto, il presidente non deve avere una grande esperienza delle donne e dell'amore se non se n'è accorto in tempo. E deve averne ancor meno se lei invece non lo è stata ed egli non sa capire l'avventura, la libertà, il gioco, il rischio, l'intensità dell'esistenza condivisa, la confidenza amorosa che si accresce ogni volta di più, l'odissea del vivere, dormire, invecchiare e soprattutto scoprire e amare il mondo insieme." Piccole istantanee, scatti di vita ordinari e non, un Magris che conquista a piccoli assaggi. Tanti brevi racconti che scavano all'interno e fanno riflettere su dettagli che magari abbiamo sempre trascurato o tralasciato. Nel titolo di ognuno si ha come una cornice e un'anteprima enigmatica di cosa poi avrebbe mostrato quell'istantanea, davvero interessante, anche se di certo è sempre una lettura non da svago ma che necessita di più attenzione e auto riflessione. Una bella scoperta!

[Yonca Güneş Yücel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çeviri çok zorlayıcıydı. Teknik olarak doğru çevrilmiş cümleler dahi olsa birçok göndermeyi anlamakta zorlandım. Magris de durumu zorlaştırmış olabilir elbette. Din antropolojisi, Hristiyan öğretisi bilenler için eminim ki enstantaneler çok daha derinleşir.

Deneme gibi değil de öykü, gün gün olmasa da günce/ yaşantı demeye daha yatkın olurdum tür için.

“Çok kısa pozlamaları” gösterdiği sevdiğim birkaç an(ı)lar var. Kitabın ilk iki sayfasında karşılıyor hem de. İyi seçim olmuş, kuvvetli anlara öncelik.

Okuduktan sonra Triste’yi, Barcola kıyısını, “kayalığı” merak etmeyecek okuyucu olmaz herhalde. Yine yolu oraya düşenin gözleri Magris’i arayacaktır da.

[Gemma entre lecturas · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Morir forma parte de los obvios riesgos del oficio de vivir»
 
No conocía a este autor hasta que leí Verde agua de Marisa Madieri, su mujer, un bellísimo prefacio, me dije, tengo que leerle, sí o sí. Admirada me ha dejado su estilo, como nos coloca en el abismo, como nos hace pensar, como utiliza el humor para dejarnos el poso. Es brillante.
 
«La muerte no debería de ser de tan poco fiar»
 
Relatos cortos de instantáneas corrientes, el comportamiento humano descrito con humor y perspicacia. Un descubrimiento de autor que no dejaré pasar.
 
Muy, muy recomendable.

[Riet · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Engelse titel is "Snapshots". Het boek is een verzameling korte notities, een soort columns. (Doet een beetje denken aan Remco Campert of Arno Grunberg).
Magris is een opmerkzaam persoon. Hij ziet van alles onderweg of op het strand en maakt daar dan een kort verhaaltje van. Vaak heel geestig en to the point. Leuk om te lezen.

[mihusky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spostrzeżenia, notatki, zapisy scen z dnia codziennego. Nieco nierówne, o różnym ciężarze gatunkowym. Czasem lekkie i błyskotliwe, czasem, niestety, napuszone, zbyt pretensjonalne i ciężkawe.

[Ellenup · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bel tentativo, ma non mi ha lasciato niente. A tratti noioso, a tratti fastidioso, nient'altro

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10

[Fernando Anselmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma compilação de crónicas de Claudio Magris que nos faz pensar sobre as coisas mais simples do nosso quotidiano. Para quem não tempo para ler grandes histórias, é o livro ideal

[Luc Dejonghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooie korte filosofische verhalen opgebouwd uit lange complexe zinnen. Zet je aan het denken. Om af en toe één te herlezen.

[Vaso · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5