Comedy of Vanity and Life-Terms by Elias Canetti. New York. PAJ Publications. 160 pages. paperback. 0933826311. Cover design by steven Hoffman. Translated from the German by Gitta Henegger. Introduction by Klaus Volker.
FROM THE PUBLISHER -
Appearing for the first time in English, two plays by Elias Canetti who was awarded the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature. COMEDY OF VANITY, a dark satire on mass movements and narcissism, is a prophetic vision of fascism; in LIFE TERMS everybody in a new society is assigned the number of years he or she may live. Canetti’s plays provide a missing link in the European dramatic heritage. Klaus Volker has written an introduction to the plays. Among the many books of Elias Canetti are CROWDS AND POWER, AUTO-DA-FÉ, THE CONSCIENCE OF WORDS, THE TORCH IN MY EAR, and THE HUMAN PROVINCE. ‘Canetti’s exacting presence honors literature’ - George Steiner. ‘Canetti is a writer of unusual dramatic power’ - New York Times.
Elias Canetti (1905-1994), Bulgarian-born author of the novel Auto-da-Fé, the sociological study Crowds and Power, and three previously published memoir volumes (The Tongue Set Free, The Torch in my Ear, and The Play of the Eyes), won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.