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The Secret Heart of the Clock: Notes, Aphorisms, Fragments, 1973-1985 Hardcover – August 30, 1989

by Elias Canetti (Author), Joel Agee (Translator)
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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.
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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  4. Publication date
    August 30, 1989
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0374256942
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0374256944
  8. See all details
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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.

About the Author



Elias Canetti (1905-94) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981. His writings include a monumental work of social theory, Crowds and Power, and three volumes of memoirs, The Tongue Set Free, The Torch in My Ear, and The Play of the Eyes.

 


Joel Agee has translated Elias Canetti, Friedrich Dürenmatt, Gottfried Benn, and a collection of Rilke's letters, Rilke and Benvenuta: An Intimate Correspondence. He won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his translation of Heinrich von Kleist's Penthesilea, a verse play. He is the author of Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany and lives in Brooklyn.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition (August 30, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374256942
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374256944
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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  1. Elias Canetti

    Elias Canetti

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

N. Coppedge
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Exceptional Books
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
It is deceptive to call this book a book of paradoxes in the conventional philosophical sense. It does not make the typical mistake of avoiding irony. Yet it is not acerbic in the sense of being pure bitterness. It is very unique.

Words are not the same after Canetti. I was influenced by him when I encountered the book in a public library, and since I have a poor memory it was years before I encountered him again.

But that lapse in time was a torment. I was trying to remember those strings of influence which I found only in Canetti.

Canneti was the genius I had mistaken for myself. But in some sense, I could also claim that he "was an influence". It was a great gift.

I will not bother the reader by comparing him to the Bible, Calvino, or Borges. Those books are really separate ideas, different islands.
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Robert S. Costic
1.0 out of 5 stars One would be better served picking up Nietzsche
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
A collection of aphorisms and notes that lacks insight or wit. One would be better served picking up Nietzsche, Lichtenberg, or Adorno.
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