On Sebald, Authorial Absence and Dreams

Generally, I'm not one to proclaim favourites. Of course, there are certain things, be it music, film or literature, that I value higher than others, but that is not to suggest that I feel any particular need to rank them. Rather, it is enough to know that I like these things more than those things. This wasn't necessarily always the case. For instance, when I was first "getting" into music, each new "discovery" had the potential to challenge the existing order. In many ways, I suppose this desire to classify and arrange is a very human endeavour, yet when it comes to subjectivity and personal preference, it can be as stifling as it is superfluous. After all, I always used to feel it imperative that I had a single favourite artist who stood above all others in my esteem; an artist whose work would set the benchmark against which I would judge everything else. Given my limited scope of music in general at that point, I guess this made sense, but as time passed and my tastes diversified this model no longer proved effective. And that is a very good thing for if it had been effective, I doubt I'd be listening to half the music that I do these days. As a result, I no longer have a favourite artist; I just let people think that Brian Eno is my favourite. Likewise, I don't have a favourite novel, but for the sake of this post I'm going to let you think that W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn is my favourite.