Agony of Flies: Notes and Notations (Paperback)

by Elias Canetti (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
From his early novel, Auto da fe (1935), to his work in social theory, Crowds and Power (1960); his writings on Kafka; and his autobiographies, Canetti, winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for literature, has been concerned with the themes of solitude, power, and language. These themes remain central to this German/English bilingual edition of The Agony of Flies, a collection of epigrams, aphorisms, and apercus. Many of these writings are aphoristic sketches and memoranda for stories or characters, while others are autobiographical notes, and all are linked by Canetti's profound awareness of the power of language. Like the Confucian Analects, which deeply influenced Canetti, these are the fragments of a wise teacher in exile. An important and provoking book.
T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
This collection of fragments by Nobel Prizewinner Canetti raises the vexing question: Is an aphorism merely the printed analogue of a sound bite? Canetti, who won the prize on the strength of his novel, Auto-da-F‚ (not reviewed), and his sociological study, Crowds and Power (not reviewed), has since then written in ever smaller portions. Much of this has to do with Canetti's intense distrust of systematic thought, which makes sense in a man who witnessed the ideological excesses of 20th-century Europe. Most of the shards collected here read like diary entries ripped prematurely from their notebooks: ``A man one knows only at daybreak''; ``He hearkens in cosmic space to ultimate thoughts.'' Perhaps there is a monkish purity in such brevity--an old man shedding useless trappings as he approaches a knowledge of what does and doesn't matter. Or, maybe, like most diaries and notebooks, this is just one writer's chaff and should be treated as such. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Bilingual edition (August 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374524106
• ISBN-13: 978-0374524104
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,302,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)