196 Books: Austria

The Torch in My Ear by Elias Canetti

It took me for-freaking-ever to read this book. The obligatory description, then I'll get into why. 

This is the second volume of Elias Canetti's autobiography. It is above all else an account of his admiration for the first great mentor of his adult years, the Viennese writer Karl Kraus. It is also a portrait of Canetti's first wife, Veza. Within the framework of these great passions, Canetti provides an account of the Vienna and Berlin of the 1920s.

In defense of the book, I didn't read the first one. In all honesty, I'm not sure it would have made a difference for me. There were a lot of narrative points that I really liked--it was an entirely different time and almost seemed like a different planet. Overall though, it was a little too philosophical for me. I kept finding myself reading things that went in one ear and out the other. 

On the not-so-great side, he kept referencing the previous book in ways that seemed useless to me. He would talk about some small encounter that not having known it didn't take anything away from the book. That sentence was really weird. It also jumped around between Vienna and Berlin which kind of bothered me for my project. 

On the positive side, his work and fascination on crowds was neat. There were a lot of points that I never thought of and wouldn't have otherwise. The way he described famous writers and poets was interesting; I had no idea who any of them were but I imagine at the time they were very famous. I wonder if all our celebrities will be like that in 100 years. Probably. He used many big words that I didn't know and that made me feel stupid! There was a line I particularly loved: "respect for others begins with not ignoring their words." 

This book was...I dunno. I don't have a lot to say about it, which makes for a short "review." I'm sorry guys, I've been super distracted and this book didn't entirely penetrate through the haze. 
I promise I'll try to do better, and here's hoping for better luck next time. I've taken on this project and I'm not doing very well; I'm taking way too long. I am trying. I guess that's the best I can do. 

And now, onward to another country and another adventure.