W. G. ‘Max’ Sebald as I knew him: A memoir 1

For many years, Max, as we called W. G. Sebald, was a colleague of mine at the University of East Anglia (UEA), if not a close friend. In this article I comment on his appointment and various teaching responsibilities, his attitudes to university funding crises and his administrative style. I also add information about his attitudes to translation. While drawing attention to his personal kindness towards me, I suggest that he was never entirely at home in England or the University of East Anglia, but was glad not to work in Germany. As editor of Essays in Memory of Michael Parkinson and Janine Dakyns (Smith, 1996), I provide information about Sebald’s contribution to the volume. Richard Sheppard has added supplementary annotation from his personal knowledge of Sebald.