The Book Against Death

In 1937, Elias Canetti began collecting notes for the project that ‘by definition, he could never live to complete’, as translator Peter Filkins writes in his afterword. The Book Against Death is the work of a lifetime: a collection of Canetti’s aphorisms, diatribes, musings and commentaries on and against death – published in English for the first time since his death in 1994 – interspersed with material from philosophers and writers including Goethe, Walter Benjamin and Robert Walser. This major work by the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate is a disarming and often darkly comic reckoning with the inevitability of death and with its politicization, evoking despair at the loss of loved ones and the impossibility of facing one’s own death, while fiercely protesting the mass deaths incurred during war and the willingness of the despot to wield death as power. Infused with fervour and vitality, The Book Against Death ultimately forms a moving affirmation of the value of life itself.

In 1937, Elias Canetti began collecting notes for the projectthat ‘by definition, he could never live to complete’, astranslator Peter Filkins writes in his afterword. The BookAgainst Death is the work of a lifetime: a collection ofCanetti’s aphorisms, diatribes, musings and commentarieson and against death – published in English for the firsttime since his death in 1994 – interspersed with materialfrom philosophers and writers including Goethe, WalterBenjamin and Robert Walser. This major work by the 1981Nobel Prize in Literature laureate is a disarming and oftendarkly comic reckoning with the inevitability of death andwith its politicization, evoking despair at the loss of lovedones and the impossibility of facing one’s own death,while fiercely protesting the mass deaths incurred duringwar and the willingness of the despot to wield death aspower. Infused with fervour and vitality, The Book AgainstDeath ultimately forms a moving affirmation of the valueof life itself.

"I accept no death."--Elias Canetti (1905-1994) The Book Against Death is the work of a lifetime: a collection of Nobel Prize-winner Elias Canetti's powerful, disarming, and often bleakly comic observations, diatribes, musings, and commentaries on and against death. Evoking despair, melancholy, and fury, Canetti examines the inevitable demise of all beings--from the ant, the fish, and the worm to an executioner, a court painter, and a Greek god--while fiercely protesting the mass deaths incurred during war and the willingness of the despot to wield death as power. Interposed with material from philosophers and writers such as Goethe, Walter Benjamin, and Robert Walser, The Book Against Death is ultimately a moving affirmation of the value of life itself. He refused to die before he'd read all his obituaries and corrected them.

"I accept no death."--Elias Canetti (1905-1994) The Book Against Death is the work of a lifetime: a collection of Nobel Prize-winner Elias Canetti's powerful, disarming, and often bleakly comic observations, diatribes, musings, and commentaries on and against death. Evoking despair, melancholy, and fury, Canetti examines the inevitable demise of all beings--from the ant, the fish, and the worm to an executioner, a court painter, and a Greek god--while fiercely protesting the mass deaths incurred during war and the willingness of the despot to wield death as power. Interposed with material from philosophers and writers such as Goethe, Walter Benjamin, and Robert Walser, The Book Against Death is ultimately a moving affirmation of the value of life itself. He refused to die before he'd read all his obituaries and corrected them.