The Voices of Marrakesh by Elias Cannetti

Elias Cannetti is the kind of writer that makes me realise I will never be a writer. I mean, to be fair to myself he is a Nobel prize winning writer so he's pretty much top of his game so I like to think it's an unfair comparison but the way he writes about what he sees and how those things make him feel is just stunning.

I don't know if it's his writing skills or that he actually feels things in a different way from me. He seems to feel so intensely and deeply and understand what those feelings are. I mean, I feel things. The way a view or a sunset can fill me with the most intense contentment. That everything is right. It's not even a feeling in the heart, it's the whole body just feeling full of the beauty of the view.

I like old buildings. I like to put my hand on old buildings and absorb the ancientness. If I can get away with it, I like to stand there with my hands on it, close my eyes and just try to feel the history. I always hope that when I open my eyes I'll have popped back in time, just for a minute, and be able to see the medieval monks and aristocratic ladies wandering about.

Sometimes when I'm at a gig, I like to stop just for a moment and watch the crowd. Everyone there together for the same purpose, with the music pounding, absorbed by the band, having the time of their lives. I like to feel the energy and I can feel it swell in my chest until my body is just filled with love for everyone in the room and I want to dance and jump and leap in the mosh pit and go crazy.

Do you see what I mean? Look, I'm not fishing for compliments here. Can you even have intense contentment?? It feels like an oxymoron. And "ancientness", that is definitely not a word. And Elias Cannetti would have the most incredible description of being at a gig that would probably include the heat, and the smells and would describe the feeling in such a way that you would 100% know the feeling even if you've never been to a gig in your life. He'd pick out an interesting person in any crowd and create such a focus on that person and translate to you everything about that person that he finds interesting and make you fascinated too. 

And that's pretty much what happens in every chapter of the book. He makes Marrakesh real through the people. He manages to describe them so beautifully and with such details that I would probably never even notice. He has an incredible way of observing and translating those observations onto paper. I'm envious of his ability to insert himself into people’s lives, not obtrusively though, just in a way that he's there watching and listening. It's a different time, of course, at one point he goes past a school, is curious and just goes into sits in the class, is welcomed, and entertained. He has the ability to just mingle in the crowds without fear, without standing out, enough to observe purely for the pleasure of observing.

He tells this great story about a donkey's concupiscence. I had no idea was concupiscence meant and I'm so glad I didn't because it would have ruined the whole story. It has my favourite line in the book. He sees a group of men surrounding something. He makes his way into the group and finds an old man "urgently interrogating a donkey". Just killed me. Luckily, I wasn't drinking tea or I'd have splurted it across the book. Anyway, the donkey is old, on its last legs. Elias doesn't see how it could possibly last the night. He goes back the next day out of curiosity and is stunned to find that the donkey is still there in the same place, looking even more bedraggled than before. Elias turns away for a second and when he looks back the donkey has a huge and stout erection, an erection so impressive that Elias Canetti never stopped thinking about it. And there you have it; concupiscence means sexual desire or lust.

But not all the stories are like this. He talks about the camel market and makes you see, smell and hear it. He describes the souks, the overwhelming noises, how to haggle, the beggars, the wealthy quarter, the Jewish section, an all-night cafe, and the people he meets there. 

And I cannot wait to go there!