To mark the centenary of the Nobel prize winning writer Elias Canetti, Mathew Sweet takes a look at Party in the Blitz - his memoirs of living in England during the war. Despite the experience, Elias Canetti, best known for Auto da Fe - went on to spend much of his working life in Britain whilst writing in his birth language, German.
Programme Details
On Night Waves Matthew Sweet examines the life and work of Nobel Prize winning author Elias Canetti whose new book Party in the Blitz is the first publication to emerge since his death in 1994. An émigré from Vienna he seeks to draw a portrait of England during the war - fascinated by English social gatherings which he called 'stand up parties' during which, he observed, no one touches each other and no one reveals their name. The new book describes how in the forty years he lived in England Canetti became Iris Murdoch's lover and came to loath T. S. Eliot. He describes encounters with, and his impressions of, many of the country's resident artists and intellectuals including Vaughn Williams, Bertrand Russell and Oscar Kokoschka.
Night Waves also travels to Margate to witness the start of a year-long project Towards a Promised Land. It begins with a photography project that sees 4 metre photographs bolted onto the cliffs and will end next summer with a recreation of the Exodus, including plagues, commandments and the parting of the sea, of which a film will be made for Channel 4 with the people of Margate playing all the parts. But how do photographs of children who have arrived in Margate from Belarus, Afghanistan and the Congo go down in a town desperately in need of re-generation and with a history of hostility between some of its locals and its immigrant population?
And Matthew also reviews the new film by Brazilian director Walter Salles best known for his award-winning films Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries. But how does this acclaimed director and producer of City of God make the transition to a Hollywood remake of a Japanese horror film, Dark Water ?
Night Waves, live at the slightly later time of 10pm, here on BBC Radio 3.
Presenter: Matthew Sweet
Producer: Kirsty Pope
Additional Information
1) Party in the Blitz is published by Harvill on July 21
2) Auto da Fe byis published by Harvill on July 21
3) Towards a Promised Land with photographs by Wendy Ewald is staged by Artangel in Margate until next summer. Filming for Penny Woolcock's The Margate Exodus will take place next summer. For more information visit www.creative-partnerships.com
4) Dark Water directed by Walter Salles, certificate 15, is released July 22.
