I have never known better literature. I myself am not a good writer so I'll just say is this: Canetti heightend my sensitivity towards life - fundamentally. His autobiography showed me how complex and interesting life can be, if you see it through a mind like Canetti's who is able to describe his perception in a more profound yet boad way than anybody and who chose a corresponding path of life. I'm glad I read him while still in college, because otherwise I had not known how narrowminded I really was before I met Canetti.
My favorite book.

(PS. English is not my first language so please excuse whatever you don't like about my writing.)

I first read Auto-da-Fe on the recommendation of my German teacher at school. Even then, I was astounded by Canetti's humour and intelligence. I was delighted to come across a rather shabby hardbound copy of The Torch in my Ear on sale for £1.00 outside Surrey County Council Library recently.

I settled down to reacquaint myself with Canetti and, like a reunion with an old friend, I was overjoyed to rediscover his warmth, his wit, and his searing intellect. For such a clever man, though, Canetti is still aware he has a reading public eager to hear tales of the famous names, with whom he rubbed shoulders during his very brief time in Berlin. To learn that the great George Grosz was indeed a misogynist and Brecht a slave to fashion gave me that wry smile that I remembered from reading Canetti before.

For anyone wanting to gain a really deep insight into Central Europe in the 1920's and 30's, this is the book to read and not the titillating, ever-so-British accounts of Christopher Isherwood.

what a book, what a writer! having read plenty of literary autobiographies, i am still stunned at the depth and insight of these three volumes. the first, tongue set free, is the most lyrical; the other two focus more on young canetti's developement as a writer and thinker. such is canetti's art that only after reading the books several times the reader notices all the things he is not told... although this autobiography is a great source of enjoyment to everyone who is interested in literature, it should be read with a bit of caution: never to forget that this is, despite everything, literary fiction. i am not implying that canetti is lying (he is not), but he has more purpose than just presenting his times and lifes, and some scenes (like the describtion of café museum) seem to be just describtions while they are full or literary quotes etc. i think it is this that sets canetti's work apart from other writers of the era.

Canetti's monumental work is at the same time, frightening, awe-inspiring, shocking, numbing, believable & unbelievable . Strange though it may seem, it requires a deeply individual experience to understand 'Crowds and Power'. For, according to Canetti, a crowd is not just a bunch of people. The concept of crowd is ontologically prior to Man. In one of the most illuminating books ever written, Canetti takes one through two of the most important traits that have shaped Man's destiny on this planet - the formation of crowds and the facet of power. Hence, this is not a book about crowds. Its about Man.

The kaliedoscopic journey for the reader includes a vast range of topics from Australian aborigines,pueblo indians, jivaro indians, etruscans to ants, monkeys, kangaroos to Islam, Christianity, Judaism.

Some aspects of this book might sound unbelievable( like laughing being a substitute for eating..I believe it though)...but I can only quote what Blake wrote in 'Proverbs from Heaven and Hell' -

"There is no truth that can be understood and not be believed".

Read this book. It could be one of the most important things you might be doing in your life.

That the author won the Nobel may suade the reader one way or another. But as this work is what got him the prize, which to me says the Nobel must be worth something. If you don't know Canetti's work, you won't get the impression from the title that the man is incredibly funny. But he is. And yet his brand of humor comes only from surgical-precise observation of the ordinary. Canetti is the Montaigne of our time, of modernity, bearing all the marks and scars of our age. If Canetti's prose has the disarming rambling style that we associate with Montaigne's, it also has the latter's power to draw out the most unexpectedly profound from the ordinary. Sort of like old fencing masters: they never run, never sweat, are never fancy, but they always beat you to the jugular. All the scholarship,all the discipline is hidden, like the hull of a ship that keeps the whole thing afloat. In this book, without torturing language, Canetti tells you more about the nature of power than Foucault, and more about the nature of crowds than a room full of social psychologists. (That such a feat is possible ought to be a sobering lesson in itself!) Canetti's book is a wonderful mix of the potentially tedious (kangaroo behavior) and the...funky. For example, in describing the psychology of mass fear as it relates to its twin, the desire to out-survive others, he cites unexpected examples: burial customs in rural India in which a strenuous attempt is made to appease the spirit of the child if it dies a preventable death; the peculiar madness of Roman emperors; and the Viking warriors' tradition of piling up a mound of stones before going into battle. Each warrior brings a stone and adds to the pile. After battle, each warrior removes one stone, thus leaving a mound of stones that would represent the dead. Contemplating by the fire the remaining mound was immensely satisfying to the survivors, apparently. Canetti's notion of the crowd is never just a bunch of people. Canetti defines crowd as a cumulation of small units into a large ensemble, causing it to become something entirely different from the units that make it up. He sees nature as the teacher that taught man to behave as a crowd, as a liquid. For example, for the Germans, it is the forest with its innumerable trees, standing vertically, that has inspired the German soul since time primordial in its aspiration to become a marching liquid. For the Arabs, it is the sand of the desert. For the Dutch, it is the threatening sea itself. For the Mongols, the wind. Etc. Canetti's prose is muscular, never bloated. Given that he was a man of letters, and not an anthropologist, it may be of some significance that his lifelong project -- it took him some 30 years to write this book -- was shaped by his lifelong preference for a world as envisioned by the ancient Greeks and the ancient Chinese in matters literary, moral, and philosophical. His science is the science of a man confident in his experience and aristocratic power of observation. Canetti never sets out to convince. He has nothing to sell. It is his style to simply put it in front of you, and then leave. Take it or leave it, but this book will never leave you once you begin it.

Over twenty years in the making, this book is a must read for anybody who's ever been disturbed by destructive crowd behavior or the horror of tyrannical rulers. Insights into crowd psychology and the pathology of power are supplied through a wealth of material from such diverse subjects as anthropology, psychology, biology, religion, and literature. However, what emerges is no mere dry academic treatise, but an absolutely fascinating journey through topics such as the rain dances of the Pueblo Indians, the finger exercises of monkeys, and the hallucinations of alcoholics. Even if you find yourself disagreeing with some of the author's conclusions, you will still find yourself looking at the world in new ways. For example, I will never watch the public actions of an orchestra conductor without trying to glean insights into the nature of power. In short, this is one of those rare books which makes old, dull things you've known for years suddenly stand up in a whole new dimension.

This book was not received particularly well in the academic press, but I would like to suggest its intellectual rigour and sense of adventure rather put them off. It is a work of great value and deserves reappraisal.

These essays are, in simple terms, beautiful. Carefully crafted,
precise, and most of all beautiful, Canetti explores in shorter form much of his philosopical world.

The collection of essays, Das Gewissen der Woerter, is also a great place to enter the world of Elias Canetti. Each essay is a gem that once you set your eyes on you can not let go of until having digested it in entirety.

When I first began this book it was 10 minutes before I was to meet a friend for lunch. After reading the first paragraph, I was hooked. I ended up missing my lunch date and it was worth it.

I bought this book after reading only one notebook entry, browsing in the bookstore aisle. I have never regreted the decision.

It's a most fascinating and eclectic collection of thoughts and profound observations. I have never put the book down with the same vision as I picked it up.

Nunca Mas, (Spanish for "Never Again") Is the official report of the Argentine National Commission on the Disappearance of persons (CONADEP).

During the late 70's and early 80's, between 15,000 and 30,000 people were kidnapped, tortured and murdered in the name of "National Security" under the worst military dictatorship in Argentina's history. These people were 99% innocent civilians considered dissidents by the military, paramilitary, and the police.

How can such thing happen? Think of it as a kind of a go-amok witch-hunt. Something akin to the US McCartheism during the 50's, except the coutry is not a democracy, rule of law is virtually non-existent and instead of losing your job for thinking in a certain way, you (and in many cases all your family) lose your life.

In 1983, after democracy was restored in the coutry (following Argentina's rout in the Falklands War) the newly elected democratic government led by Raul Alfonsin appointed a national commission to investigate the mass disappearances.

This book, the published work of that commission, is the authoritative source on the tragic events. It is based on the 50,000 pages of original testimonies of families and survivors given before the commission.

It includes a Prologue by the chair of the commission, Ernesto Sabato and a terrifying yet revealing introduction by Ronald Dworkin.

As proven over and over throughout history, such unbelievable things can happen anywhere and those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Those who care should do themselves a favor and read this book so tragedies such as this one, the blackest period in Argentina's history, would never happen again.

Canetti describes his travels as a wealthy spanish jew around many different european countries preceding and during the great war. His fiercely intellectual mother, uber-capitalist uncles, and antisemitic neighbors make for an incredibly interesting portrait.

Canetti presents a readable overview of Kafka's intense correspondence with Felice Bauer, providing a rough biographical sketch of the author during this turbulent (two abortive engagements to the same woman) yet productive (Metamorphosis, e.g.) time in his life. I don't think Canetti succeeded in proving his notion that Kafka's landmark novel The Trial is a fictionalized representation of his oddly doomed relationship with Felice, but he does point out several interesting parallels which can enhance your enjoyment of Joseph K's misadventures. The real value of Canetti's book is, in my opinion, the fact that it will probably inspire you to read Kafka's own diaries and the actual letters to Felice themselves, and probably with a greater appreciation as well.

Very good writing.Intellectually stimulating.Great deal of philosophy and study of human nature.Just a bit too much of literary rambling but in 85% keept my attention properly.I liked the insider scoop on the 1920s art scene of Berlin and Vienna.I don't like tha he doesn't hint the outcome of his only true romance in this book ( in real life he marries her).
ps
Even with his fascination with the "crowd" one feels that deep down he never belonged to any.And good for him...:)

As far as I can tell, the only reason anyone has ever bought this is because it's cheap in the used book stores and sez "Nobel Prize Winner" on the outside. (At least (blush) that's why I did).

People, stay away. This may be the worst book ever published. I say that after careful thought; this cannot be dismissed as shallow dark-and-stormy-night-ery, formulaic flatulence, or pathetic poetastery - it is bad on a much larger scale. It is a truly monumental combination of mean-spirited misogyny, flimsy characterization, dumb Dumb DUMB dialogue, and story line stolen from a whiny junior high school diary. To this day I cannot imagine why I stayed with it to the end, and regret having done so. If you are currently in the middle of this book, STOP NOW - don't throw good brain cells after bad.

It has occurred to me that Auto-da-fe is perhaps a bold experiment aimed at exploring the boundaries of literature - can one write a good novel without believable plot, engaging characters, human sympathy, or readable language? The answer is "no".

Perhaps the translation is at fault - perhaps the original is merely a badly written, pretentious, over-wrought mistake with maybe even a redeeming feature or two. In this case, the translation ought to be an object of careful study in the world's academies of translation technique (do such exist?) as an example of How Not To Do It.

Another thing I regret is that when I purged this malignant tumour of a novel from my shelves, I took the cowardly and unprincipled action of donating it to a charity book bazaar rather than consigning it to a dumpster; I expect St. Pete to have a few words for me on this subject when I show up at the pearly gates...

Peter Kien explores the innermost horror of his mind. He lives in a land of books until his solitude is invaded by the blue skirt - the horror of worldly feminity.

He is forced out of his secure environment into the fear of the city.

Canetti wrote the novel after seeing the University of Vienna in flames. He saw a man outside the university, unconcerned for those burning inside, crying "my papers, my papers". He saw Peter Kien. He saw humanity, civilisation.

After this, the most astonishing of novels, he concerned himself with the study of crowds and the politics of crowds.

On Brecht he said, "an overbearing man!"

One of the greatest novels of this century, this is a book you will not forget. It is a true masterpiece written, astonishingly, by a man hardly 25 years old. Chillingly prophetic, it is also stylistically of an overpowering beauty. A work of genius, ranking alongside the best of such giants as Kafka, Flaubert, or Dostoyevsky. It is a breathtaking descent into the darkness not only of an individual soul, but of a tormented century. It is Canetti's greatest triumph