I owe Elias Canetti a whole lot of bookshelf space not only for his books but the other writers he introduced to me and that I love. Karl Kraus, Robert Musil and Hermann Broch. I can talk more about the other two but I've read more of Brock so here I am gushing.
I've read Sleepwalkers, The Death of Virgil and 2/3rds through The Guiltless. Sleepwalkers might be one of my favorite character studies in people trying to make sense of such a rapidly accelerating world where they notice that everything is changing and no matter how much they are told that it is for the better they just cannot see it themselves. "Those who make it through without going insane must be mad themselves." I wont pretend to be smart enough to be able to interpret correctly all their ideas but through out the book I felt more and more reassured in my own beliefs and understood in struggles to find my place in a world that doesn't want me. "Do thyself no harm. For we are all here."
The Death of Virgil stands in it's own right and takes on it's own challenges not with a changing world but with an infinitum that will not take the time to understand us nor give us the time to understand ourselves. It reminded me a bit of Elias Canettis Professions of a Poet where he described the poet as the one who will explore the darkest places no one can brave in order for those who find themselves in these places may find a path to get themselves out of it. This is a book that told me to no only face what scares me but to understand it all that I can.
The Guiltless is a bit slower than the other two but it still has some very good moments.
If anyone else has read his works then I'd love to know your thoughts.
by NotBorris