"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. It is the story of Peter Kien, a scholarly recluse who lives among and for his great library. The destruction of Kien through the instrument of the illiterate, brutish housekeeper he marries constitutes the plot of the book. The best writers of our time have been concerned with the horror of the modern world--one thinks of Kafka, to whom Canetti has often been compared. But "Auto-de-Fe" stands as a completely original, unforgettable treatment of the modern predicament.
埃利亚斯·卡内蒂（Elias Canetti,1905-1994 ），德语作家，1981年因其作品具有“广阔的视野、丰富的思想和艺术力量”获得诺贝尔文学奖。
卡内蒂是文学史上著名的“难以归属”的作家，他出生于保加利亚的鲁斯丘克，祖先是居住在西班牙的犹太人，6岁时随父母来到英国，次年丧父，随母亲迁居维也纳。他先后在瑞士的苏黎世和德国的法兰克福读完小学和中学，1929年在维也纳大学获得化学博士学位。纳粹吞并奥地利后，他流亡英国，并获得英国国籍。
尽管一生萍踪不定，但正如诺贝尔颁奖词中所言，这位世界作家“有自己的故乡，这就是德语”。自1935年开始写作以来，他终生将德语作为他的文学语言，创作了多种体裁的作品，代表作有小说《迷惘》，剧本《婚礼》《虚荣的喜剧》《确定死期的人们》，政论《群众与权力》，游记《马拉喀什之声》，散文《耳证人》，自传三部曲《获救之舌》《...
The Copenhagen Trilogy
I You We Them
Severance
The Gardener and the Carpenter
The World Beyond Your Head
Sestets