Citation

Macho T. Oxford German Studies 2021; 50(1): 119-128.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021)

DOI

10.1080/00787191.2021.1891794

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

'Er sucht die Selbstmörder seines Lebens und holt sie zurück', notes Canetti in 1992, two years before his own death. 'Wie gern sie kommen, wie sie über die Gesellschaft, in der sie sich finden, staunen! Jeden spricht er an, jeder steht ihm Rede. Keiner begreift sich, keiner täte es wieder. Zusammen danken sie ihm, Chor der Selbstmörder'. Drawing on Canetti's notes for his planned Buch gegen den Tod, an extraordinarily wide-ranging collection of jottings and instructions for combating the 'mortal enemy', this article sets out to explore Canetti's discussion of the question of suicide. His remarks on suicide are more ambivalent and more nuanced than his observations on death and survival. On the one hand, he condemns it, sometimes with nothing less than raging anger; on the other hand, there are occasions when he shows respect and resigned understanding. The article explains and interprets these ambivalencies, in particular with respect to unpublished material in the Nachlass. *. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Amery; Celan; Fritsch; Veza