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Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize-winner in 1981 and reknowned author of Auto Da Fe, and Crowds and Power, was one of the major intellectual figures of the 20th century. His autobiography, published in three separate volumes, covers the first third of the century, taking us from 1905, the year of his birth, to 1937 with the world on the brink of inevitable disaster. The first volume begins with an extraordinary and terrifying earliest memory of a strange man threatening the young boy with a knife, saying he will cut of this tongue. Canetti later realized the man was his nanny's illicit lover and the threat was meant to silence him, which it successfully did for many years. The image of the tongue being set free; of his senses, hearing nad sight, being linked to his powers of perception and freedom of expression and his passionate denunciation of intolerance and prejudice, run clearly through all three volumes. The second part describes his intense relationships with his first wife, Veza and first great memtor, Karl Krauss. He also incorporates a profoundly perceptive portrait of Vienna and Berlin in the 1920's. The third volume, The Play of the Eyes, is the culmination of an intellectual and spiritual self-portrait which simultaneously captures the social history of the defining decades of this century. In these volumes Canetti has redefined autobiography. He never describes in order to justify, explain or simply recreate. The imaginative intensity of experience with its accompanying lack of either false modesty or arrogance breathes through each page. This bold attempt to grasp a metaphysical concept of himself is what sets Canetti apart as a writer. (Kirkus UK)
The third volume of the Nobel Prize winner's memoirs, translated from the German, chronicles the years surrounding the publication of his first novel, Auto-da-Fe. Though the world he describes is exceedingly intellectual - the artistic elite of Vienna in the 20's and 30's - his fine observations and cunning self-analysis infuse the dialectics with humanity. Though autobiography is a constant undercurrent, the book is essentially a series of portraits - sculptor Fritz Wotruba, writer Robert Musil, and many more - and one central portrait dominates the others, that of Canetti's adored mentor, Dr. Sonne. This selfless man of seemingly endless knowledge becomes God, Father, and Prophet for the young writer, never uttering the single disheartening word that could destroy him. It is an incredible, wonderfully depicted bond. Still the playwright, Canetti is artfully self-dramatizing in his biography, as in his traumatic encounter with Buchner's Wozzeck. It is impossible to separate his art and life; even romance becomes a literary pursuit, as Anna Mahler, Gustav's granddaughter, responded to Canetti's love letters more than to him in person. Canetti's observations are strange and original, as when he characterizes the writer Hermann Broch by his breathing, expressing the conceit that he did not devour or observe ideas, but assimilated them as if inhaling atmosphere. His memoirs continue their enlightening path through the 20th century. He describes Auto-da-Fe as "graffiti on the walls of a new Pompeii," and these retrospective writings, too, take their resonance from the historical catastrophe bearing down upon his world. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
This is the third volume of Elias Canetti's autobiography, following "The Tongue Set Free" and "The Torch in My Ear". It is set in Vienna between 1931 and 1937, at a time when the European catastrophe was already clear to anyone with eyes to see. The book is both a portrait of its time and an intellectual and spiritual autobiography. Canetti describes his relationships with Herman Broch, Robert Musil, Fritz Wortruba, the composer Alban Berg, and Alma Mahler.
Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize-winner in 1981 and reknowned author of Auto Da Fe, and Crowds and Power, was one of the major intellectual figures of the 20th century. His autobiography, published in three separate volumes, covers the first third of the century, taking us from 1905, the year of his birth, to 1937 with the world on the brink of inevitable disaster. The first volume begins with an extraordinary and terrifying earliest memory of a strange man threatening the young boy with a knife, saying he will cut of this tongue. Canetti later realized the man was his nanny's illicit lover and the threat was meant to silence him, which it successfully did for many years. The image of the tongue being set free; of his senses, hearing nad sight, being linked to his powers of perception and freedom of expression and his passionate denunciation of intolerance and prejudice, run clearly through all three volumes. The second part describes his intense relationships with his first wife, Veza and first great memtor, Karl Krauss. He also incorporates a profoundly perceptive portrait of Vienna and Berlin in the 1920's. The third volume, The Play of the Eyes, is the culmination of an intellectual and spiritual self-portrait which simultaneously captures the social history of the defining decades of this century. In these volumes Canetti has redefined autobiography. He never describes in order to justify, explain or simply recreate. The imaginative intensity of experience with its accompanying lack of either false modesty or arrogance breathes through each page. This bold attempt to grasp a metaphysical concept of himself is what sets Canetti apart as a writer. (Kirkus UK)
The third volume of the Nobel Prize winner's memoirs, translated from the German, chronicles the years surrounding the publication of his first novel, Auto-da-Fe. Though the world he describes is exceedingly intellectual - the artistic elite of Vienna in the 20's and 30's - his fine observations and cunning self-analysis infuse the dialectics with humanity. Though autobiography is a constant undercurrent, the book is essentially a series of portraits - sculptor Fritz Wotruba, writer Robert Musil, and many more - and one central portrait dominates the others, that of Canetti's adored mentor, Dr. Sonne. This selfless man of seemingly endless knowledge becomes God, Father, and Prophet for the young writer, never uttering the single disheartening word that could destroy him. It is an incredible, wonderfully depicted bond. Still the playwright, Canetti is artfully self-dramatizing in his biography, as in his traumatic encounter with Buchner's Wozzeck. It is impossible to separate his art and life; even romance becomes a literary pursuit, as Anna Mahler, Gustav's granddaughter, responded to Canetti's love letters more than to him in person. Canetti's observations are strange and original, as when he characterizes the writer Hermann Broch by his breathing, expressing the conceit that he did not devour or observe ideas, but assimilated them as if inhaling atmosphere. His memoirs continue their enlightening path through the 20th century. He describes Auto-da-Fe as "graffiti on the walls of a new Pompeii," and these retrospective writings, too, take their resonance from the historical catastrophe bearing down upon his world. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
This is the third volume of Elias Canetti's autobiography, following "The Tongue Set Free" and "The Torch in My Ear". It is set in Vienna between 1931 and 1937, at a time when the European catastrophe was already clear to anyone with eyes to see. The book is both a portrait of its time and an intellectual and spiritual autobiography. Canetti describes his relationships with Herman Broch, Robert Musil, Fritz Wortruba, the composer Alban Berg, and Alma Mahler.
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Kant Catches Fire, as the novel was then titled, had left me ravaged. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Kant Catches Fire, as the novel was then titled, had left me ravaged. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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