THE CONSCIENCE OF WORDS

New York City, NY: Continuum/Seabury Press, 1979. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Continuum/Seabury Press, 1979. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 246 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. One of Elias Canetti's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Elias Canetti's "Das Gewissen der Worte" in the definitive English translation by Joachim Neugroschel. Canetti, the novelist, dramatist, aphorist, and memoirist as literary essayist. Written between 1962 and 1974, the collection includes the full text of "Kafka's Other Trial: The Letters To Felice", the longest piece in the book, and one of the greatest essays ever written on Kafka. It remains available as an individual volume, but having it here together with his other essays gives it the context it doesn't have as a "stand-alone", apart from making the volume a great value. In the now-legendary speech he gave on the occasion of Hermann Broch's 50th birthday (in 1936) , Canetti defines what it means to be a writer in universalizing and uncompromising terms. His title should have alerted us to the Jewish-German high moral seriousness Canetti demands of EVERY writer regardless of nationality. Thus, even his great admirer in Susan Sontag wryly noted the near-total absence of the aesthete sensibility, which is often concretely and uniquely "local", as the drastic limit of Canetti's otherwise all-encompassing greatness. Despite (or because of) his genius, he was quite irrational in his fear of Women and Death. About death, in particular, he wrote willfully (rather than rationally) . He considered its rejection - by the mind, which is "immortal" though alas, trapped in the perishable body - as the only appropriate, comprehensible response to death. The "mind-versus-body" fantasy that Canetti took seriously is surely THE fantasy that every intellectual-rationalist also has: It is unthinkable for every great mind to imagine let alone accept death. Genius will never die even if the body must. An absolute "must-have" title for Elias Canetti collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the 1979 First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and despite its imperfection (creasing and wear on DJ) is still in fine condition overall: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. There is NO bumping on the boards. It is NOT price-clipped. Please note: The publisher shut down shortly after publication so copies of the book have always been hard to find in collectible condition. Copies available online have very serious flaws (significant fading on the DJ spine is endemic) , are subsequent editions, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. . ISBN 0816493340.