Austerlitz

In the years following their Belgian meetings, the narrator visits Austerlitz whenever he travels to London. They meet at Austerlitz’s office (pictured), which is overstuffed with books and papers.

Austerlitz tells the narrator about his lifelong study of capitalist-era architecture. The characteristic elements of this capitalist style—monumentalism and order—are apparent in the classic types of buildings from this era: prisons, psychiatric institutions, courts, opera houses, stock exchanges, and railway stations (51). His interest in this field began with his preoccupation as a student with Paris’s railway stations; in his daily visits to them, Austerlitz felt a confusing mix of bliss and terrible loss.

Around this time, the narrator returns to live in his native Germany, feeling that his nine-year absence has made him a stranger in his own land (he doesn’t mention where he has been living). He writes to Austerlitz from Munich a few times but receives no response; years later, he learns Austerlitz was averse to writing to Germany. A year after his return to Germany, the narrator moves back to the UK. He becomes depressed and doesn’t attempt to contact Austerlitz.

It’s not until a strange turn of events, 20 years later in December 1996, that the narrator encounters Austerlitz again.