The Memoirs of Elias Canetti (The Tongue Set Free, The Torch in My Ear, and The Play of the Eyes).

New York, NY Farrar Staus Giroux:, 1999. Hardcover First Edition (1999); so stated. Near Fine in Near Fine DJ: The book shows a hint of wear to the heel of the backstrip; a small coffee-like stain to the lower fore-edge and a small faint smudge nearby it; else flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing minor, unobtrusive imperfections only. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Very close to 'As New'. The Dj shows a short, closed tear at the heel of the backstrip; mild wear to same and even less wear to the head of the backstrip; else only the mildest rubbing to the panels; the price has not been clipped. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (9.3 x 6.3 x 2.35 inches). ix, 834 pages. Translated by Joachim Neugroshel. Language: English. Weight: 45.3 ounces. Hardback with DJ. Elias Canetti (1905 – 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her three sons back to continental Europe. They settled in Vienna. Canetti moved to England in 1938 after the Anschluss to escape Nazi persecution. He became a British citizen in 1952. He is known as a modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and nonfiction writer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power". He is noted for his nonfiction book Crowds and Power, among other works. In the first volume of this autobiographical work, The Tongue Set Free, Canetti describes his travels as a wealthy sephardic Jew around many different european countries preceding and during the great war. His descriptions of his fiercely intellectual mother, uber-capitalist uncles, and antisemitic neighbors make for some deeply interesting portraits. In the second volume, The Torch in my Ear, he describes his admiration for his first great mentor, the Viennese writer Karl Kraus, and his passion for his first wife, Veza. Canetti seamlessly incorporates a profoundly perceptive portrait of Vienna and Berlin in the 1920s. Here are the voices of Brecht, Isaac Babel, George Grosz, and many others. In the third volume, The Play of the Eyes, set in Vienna between 1931 and 1937, years when the European catastrophe was approaching its horrifying climax. To this great intellectual and spiritual self-portrait Canetti adds insightful portraits of his friends and rivals: Herman Broch, Robert Musil, Fritz Wortruba, Alban Berg and Alma Mahler.among others. Canetti brings these legends to life for modern readers. Central to the book is Canetti's account of his friendship with the mysterious Doctor Sonne, a mentor whose effect on his life and work was enormous.This is autobiography redefining itself and the book is, indeed, in a class by itself.