Auto Da Fe
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"Savage, subtle, beautifully mysterious--one of the few great novels of the century." - Iris Murdoch
"A strange, eloquent and terrifying book." - Philip Toynbee
"A strange, eloquent and terrifying book." - Philip Toynbee
Product Description
Auto Da Fe is the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished, reclusive Sinologist living in Germany between the wars.With masterly precision, Canetti builds up the elements in Kien himself, and his personal relationships, which will lead to his destruction.
Between his illiterate and grasping housekeeper, Therese, who has tricked him into marriage, and Benedikt Pfaff, a brutish concierge, Kien is forced out of his apartment - which houses his great library and one true passion - and into the underworld of the city.In this purgatory he is guided by a chess-playing dwarf of evil propensities, until he is eventually restored to his home.But on his return he is visited by his brother, an eminent psychiatrist who, by an error of diagnosis, precipitates the final crisis...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Elias Canetti's Auto Da Fe is a fairly disturbing piece of literature. The most obvious theme is madness but delusion and isloation are also key factors. The protagonist is Professor Kien, a reclusive sociopath who although being a sensitive soul has no abilty to understand and relate to people. Although he is a misanthrope by nature there are touching moments when he considers people his friends and is temporarily relieved of his instinctive malevolence. In a moment of lunacy he weds his maid, a simple minded reactonary who largely causes his demise. We see him go from being independant and wholly immersed in his studies to being thrown out of his own home. He comes to rely on the minipulative dwarf; Fischerle, who suffers from delusions of grandeur and although robbing poor Kien blind does enlist the professor's brother to try and help him. The other character of note is the violence obsessed fascist Bennedikt Pfaff who is totally unable to relate to people without using his fists. Published in 1935 it tells of people who cannot empathise and cannot see the error of their ways. For Canetti, a jew living in Vienna, the outlook was not a pleasant one and the sense of impending doom is portrayed eloquently and with imagery that draws you in to the gloomy lives of its characters. The narrative is lucid and weaves in and out of the characters thoughts with subtlety and precision. I thoroughly recommend this book, the first fifty pages are the most difficult but persevere and you will be rewarded.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Seems to be the marmite of books judging by the reviews! The first hundred pages or so of this novel are really interesting, where we are introduced to the world of the sinologist 'professor'. As someone who is interested in Oriental studies I was hoping to find more of this as the book progressed but sadly not enough. At first the professor is portrayed as the oddball and the rest of the world as normal, but after his wife eventually kicks him out of his own appartment an inversion takes place and he becomes the anti-hero. Just when you thought the professor was the craziest character in the novel, the caretaker, the wife not to mention the dwarf are all revealed to be even crazier, and with evil intentions. This is a very dark novel in truth and will not be to the liking of many people. For me though the main difficulty was the sheer length of some of the scenes - the pawn shop library scene was 90 pages for example, which was just too drawn out for me. I was totally bored in some places and just wanted to get to the finishing line: there are endless pages where we are drawn into a Joycean-style stream of consciousness thing, which go on far too long for me. In addition to this structural weakness (text of titanic proportions), I agree with others that there seems to be problems with the translation. I say "seems" since I don't read German, so perhaps in the original it is equally as odd. This is a unique novel in the sense that I'm sure there isn't another one remotely similar. Historically it is significant, banned by the Nazis and only 'discovered' in the 1960s. I am curious to know if this was the main factor in Canetti's Nobel Prize award. I would understand why, but would not completely agree with the judges as it is too unpolished. As Pascal said "I apologize that this letter is so long - I lacked the time to make it short." Canetti should have made this half the length and it would have been a stunning novel; as it is it lacks punch and drags along like a tanker. Overall, I would rate this as three stars: minus one star for being too drawn out, minus another for not having enough sinology.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel seems to really get people's goat. All the criticisms leveled against it are true to a certain extent, there is no character worthy of easy or obvious sympathy, the translation trips over itself at certain moments, it is an exhausting book. But all these faults contribute to its specific lure, its terrible power. Though mean, Canetti's prose doesn't come across as misanthropic. Though furious, it isn't bile after bucket of bile being dashed across the page. The fury comes through the curved vertices of a magnifying glass, an ultimate tragedy and comedy which leaves you uncertain of whether you are really meant to be laughing. It ends in ecstatic despair, leaving you drained, weightless, and finally uplifted. This novel is pure power, without sympathy or misanthropy, a cold eye looking at madness in all of its luscious dysfunction.
Auto Da Fe overcame me, with all its ugliness and tragic comedy. From that summation this novel seems like some cheap thrill to exercise misanthropy, but the depth, focus, restraint (and occasional lack of) transform it from indulgence to a modern myth about delusion, sacrifice and belief. The inevitable and final release of Peter Kien is the most beautiful end to any story I have read, seen or heard. At the heart, there is great love for humanity, viewed through the harshest glass.
This story is complete, with all its cracks, and has been my bible for sometime.
Oh yeah, and it's fun. Do you hear that? Auto Da Fe is a fun book, like as fun as some moderate acts of arson.
Though I haven't read a lot, I have yet to read something as unimpeachable, or dare I say it, perfect.
Auto Da Fe overcame me, with all its ugliness and tragic comedy. From that summation this novel seems like some cheap thrill to exercise misanthropy, but the depth, focus, restraint (and occasional lack of) transform it from indulgence to a modern myth about delusion, sacrifice and belief. The inevitable and final release of Peter Kien is the most beautiful end to any story I have read, seen or heard. At the heart, there is great love for humanity, viewed through the harshest glass.
This story is complete, with all its cracks, and has been my bible for sometime.
Oh yeah, and it's fun. Do you hear that? Auto Da Fe is a fun book, like as fun as some moderate acts of arson.
Though I haven't read a lot, I have yet to read something as unimpeachable, or dare I say it, perfect.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Surreal, farcical novel that falls far short of its reputation
Having read and admired some of Canetti's non-fiction, I found this novel bitterly disappointing. All the more so as the plot and its grotesque characters promise so much: a... Read more
Published 9 months ago by jacr100
Auto Da Fe is, ostensibly, a modern morality play.
I still can't decide whether Auto Da Fe is the most nihilistic book I've ever read or one of the most humanistic. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2006 by Gerald Seeley
Terrible translation of a horrible story
I have to agree with one of the other reviewers who bemoaned the quality of the translation of this book. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2005 by Depressaholic
One of Those Great "Single Novels"
Every now and then through the course of literary history, a writer produces a great book and retreats back into another aspect of their life; in Canetti's case, this retreat was... Read more
Published on 14 May 2003 by James Bunnelle
an unreadable translation
Canetti won the nobel prize for literature in 1981, and Auto-Da-Fe was his only work of fiction. Expectations run high with a background like this. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2002
The destruction of a man who can't step out of his own mind.
Canetti's excursion into the head of Kien, the central character, is very much post-Kafka. He leads you further and further into Kien's nightmare of a life, and his inability to... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2001 by script critic
A shocking study of an intelectual's downfall.
Auto-da-fe is very insightful and satirical study of an individual who is obsessed with his treasured library. Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2000
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