InDanubethe author sets his finger on the pulse of Central Europe, the crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, of Christendom and Islam. In this journey through the history and culture of the Danube lands, Claudio Magris, whose knowledge is encyclopaedic and curiosity limitless, guides the reader along the course of the river, from its source in the Bavarian hills through Austro-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea. In each town he raises the ghosts that inhabit the houses and monuments, from Ovid and Marcus Aurelius to Kafka and Canetti. The Danube is the great artery of that elusive territory known as Mitteleuropa, from which so many of the most fascinating people and ideas of European history have emerged, and Magris has produced a wonderful celebration of it in a book that effortlessly combines erudition and writing of the highest quality.

Claudio Magris, German scholar and critic, was born in Trieste in 1939. After graduating from the University of Turin, he lectured there in German Language and Literature from 1970 to 1978. He now teaches in the faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Trieste. He is author of many works of literary criticism and has translated works by Ibsen, Kleist and Schnitzler.