Écritures de l'exil chez Elias et Veza Canetti

Abstract

The exiled Viennese Sepharad writers, Elias and Veza Canetti, were confronted with the problem of their relation with the host country, England, and with the land of their origins, Vienna. The situation of exile reinforced their belonging to Spanish culture and to the Mediterranean and more generally the “Oriental” world. The present article deals with their trajectory looking at three different elements in order to explain why Veza failed where her husband finally succeeded. Veza died in 1963 and didn’t manage to publish any of her works, and for that reason there are but few examples of the work of this socialist and feminist author to enable us to understand her. Her last known work, a spirited comedy in English style, shows her desire to integrate and her ability to intertwine lightness and earnestness in weaving the thematic threads of exile into an entertaining play.