After NatureBy: W. G. Sebald After Nature, W. G. Sebalds first literary work, now translated into English by Michael Hamburger, explores the lives of three men connected by their restless questioning of humankinds place in the natural world. From the efforts of each, an order arises, in places beautiful and comforting, though more cruel, too, than the previous state of ignorance. The first figure is the great German Re naissance painter Matthias Grnewald. The