Leonard bernstein composed and produced a musical adaptation of voltaires candide in 1956, featuring a song called auto da fe that includes the chorus, its a lovely day for drinking and for watching people fry, referring to the spectacle of public executions. Elias canetti s local house in ruse, bulgaria canetti spent his adolescence years, from 1905 to 1911, in ruse until the point when the family moved to manchester, england, where canetti s dad joined a business set up by his better halfs siblings. Elias canetti divides auto da fe into three sections. Auto da fe, at almost five hundred pages, is a humongous novel. Elias canetti received the nobel prize in literature. Writers who dont, even great ones like tolstoy, are of minor interest. Elias canetti has 77 books on goodreads with 37464 ratings. A head without a world, headless world, and the world in the head. Autodafe by elias canetti 1973, book for sale online. Fulfillment by amazon fba is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in amazons fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Auto da fe now sits amongst the towering novels of the twentieth century. Books go search hello select your address best sellers deals store help new releases coupons gift ideas gift cards home books sell computers electronics registry.
Heinrich heines saying that wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings unfortunately proved. Dostoevsky, buchner, kafka also point the way to auto da fe. Jonathan spence observes that there is nothing discreet, chaste, or high minded about the finest and wildest of all fictions that centre on a student of china, canetti s auto da fe. Auto da fe by canetti, elias and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 104 pages and is available in paperback format.
Auto da fe is a great book and should be read by anyone interested in the best literature. On the other hand, my expectations were high because elias canetti is one of the mustread authors of all times. I decided to read it out of curiosity following a visit to ruse in bulgaria, where canetti was born, and reading about him in claudio magris danube, in which he describes auto da fe as one of the great books of the century, his only truly great book. Elias canetti project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. It is the story of peter kien, a scholarly recluse who lives among and for his great library. But this paperback is printed by the publisher with a messy ink pen, which makes it very difficult to read. A century of literature, from thomas manns buddenbrooks 1901 to philipp winklers hooligan 2016. Online shopping from a great selection at books store. The main characters of this travel, non fiction story are. With masterly precision, canetti reveals kiens character, displaying the flawed personal relationships which ultimately lead to his destruction. Free download or read online the voices of marrakesh. The first edition of the novel was published in 1968, and was written by elias canetti. Auto da fe is the story of peter kien, a distinguished, reclusive sinologist living in vienna between the wars.
He came from a sephardic jewish background, spent most of his early years in vienna, and, fleeing nazism, emigrated to england in 1939 just before the outbreak of world war ii 2. This is one of the many challenging questions auto da fe by elias canetti poses to us and its a difficult one for bibliophiles to answer, certainly it gives me pause to think and there are many moments like that in this book. It was also published in english as the tower of babel. Eastern european roots elias jacques canetti was born in russe, bulgaria, on july 25, 1905, the oldest of the three sons of sephardic merchant jacques canetti. Auto da fe, elias canetti s only work of fiction, is a staggering achievement that puts him squarely in the ranks of major european writers such as robert musil and hermann broch. Books go search best sellers gift ideas new releases. Spend the money and get the hardcover copy read more. Elias canetti arrived in england in 1939, fleeing hitler, with his wife and soon two mistresses. The book is a critique of fascist thought and how destructive it can be. Canetti s essay on tolstoy, one of his very few pieces lacking in compulsive interest, merely makes the point that tolstoy at the end of his life became like the hero of auto da fe. The godmonsters version elias canetti was a remarkable writer, but he was recently vilified for his treatment of his former lover iris murdoch. The destruction of kien through the instrument of the illiterate, brutish housekeeper he marries constitutes the plot of.
Originally planned as the first in a series of eight novels examining mad visionaries, the book deals with the dangers inherent in believing. Even being jewish himself he could hardly have imagined then what was still to come the concentration camps. The feeling that you get from auto da fe is the more deep you searching the information that hide inside the words the more you get enthusiastic about reading it. The book did not become widely known until after the worldwide success of canetti s crowds and power 1960. The book is warped a little bit but the dust cover and book itself are great. They moved to manchester, england, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her three sons back to the continent. Peter kien would be proud of the way books are retaining their value i paid more for this second hand copy than i would have paid for the new copy in 1978. Canetti s essay on tolstoy, one of his very few pieces lacking in compulsive interest, merely makes the point that tolstoy at the end of his life became like the hero of auto da. If you were to go blind would it not be logical to kill yourself because you could not read. His big book, crowds and power, is very lucid and i think it takes some type of special ability to write something as disorienting and frankly bland, but to me, symbolically significant as auto da fe. The book opens with the words dedicated to victims of auto da fe. Its like a grimms fairy tale with insane characters, or a cautionary tale with a.