The Secret Heart of the Clock: Notes, Aphorisms, Fragments, 1973-1985 [Hardcover]

Elias Canetti (Author), Joel Agee (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 1989

From one of the preeminent intellectual figures of the twentieth century, a highly personal testimonial of what Canetti himself chooses to term "notations," bits and pieces: notes, aphorisms, fragments. Taken together, they present an awesomely tender, guiltily gloomy meditation on death and aging.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dealing largely with the meaning and significance of words and names in various languages, these jottings and paradoxes, by the Bulgarian-born Nobel Laureate, reflect on the indignity of life, death, reincarnation, longevity and immortality, the development of ritualism in the child, and the importance and gist of Aubrey, Dostoyevski, Kafka, Klaus Mann, Schopenhauer, Sophocles, Walser, Lear , Zola and Cezanne. There are occasional quotations from Plutarch, Soutine, Faulkner ("I never tell reporters the truth"), Wittgenstein and Wisdom of the Fathers . Canetti remarks that "each sentence connects with another," but "between them lie a hundred years." Except to passionate Canettiphiles, these fragmentary notes will have little connection or significance, and will not add to the author's stature or reputation.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (August 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374256942
• ISBN-13: 978-0374256944
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,956,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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