Elias Canetti

A monumental biographical achievement: Sven Hanuschek portrays the life of Elias Canetti. For the first time, we receive a complete picture of the maverick genius of 20th century literature.

Who was Elias Canetti? The three volumes of his autobiography belong to the great recollections of world literature, yet tell only part of his life story. In time for Canetti's 100th birthday, Sven Hanuschek now presents the long-awaited full-scale biography. Hanuschek was amongst the first to examine Canetti's entire literary estate and its very many unpublished writings. Friends and companions of Canetti supported his research. The biography conveys the immense passion and energy that Canetti possessed: in reading, in writing, and in his exchanges with loved ones and arch enemies. For all his talent for forming friendships, Canetti remained a lone wolf and his work, too, refuses to follow the main streams of 20th century literature. Hanuschek's book portrays a wonderfully stubborn and independent author, and is also a classic tale of Jewish emigration in the 20th century, leading from the small Bulgarian village of Rustschuk to Vienna, Berlin, London and Zurich.