Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti is a German novelist. He was born on 25th July, 1905, in Rousse, Bulgaria. He is from Sephardi Jewish ancestry. He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1981. He is most known for his book, Crowds and Power, which is a study on crowd behavior.
Elias Canettis ancestors were Sephardi Jewish, who were expelled from Spain in the year 1492. He was the eldest son in a Jewish merchant family based in Rustchuk. The family was originally named as Canete. He spent his early childhood in Rustchuk before his family moved to England. He again had to move to Vienna as a result of the sudden death of his father in 1912.
Elias Canetti stayed in Vienna and learned to speak German on his mothers instance. Within a short span of time he developed good command on several languages and fluently spoke Ladino (his mother tongue), Bulgarian, English and little French. He graduated from high school in Germany, where his family moved after Zurich. In the year 1924, he went back to Vienna to study chemistry.
Elias Canetti discovered his interest for philosophy and literature while studying in Vienna. He started writing after he was introduced into the vibrant literary circles of Vienna. Some of his mastered works include Komodie der Eitelkeit, Die Blendung, Masse und Macht etc. His left political ambitions led him to participate in the July Revolt of 1927. Although he graduated in the field of chemistry in 1929, but he could never take chemistry as his profession.
Elias Canetti moved to London in the year 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria to Greater Germany. In London, he was linked with painter Marie-Louise Von Motesiczky, who remained his close companion for many years. Meanwhile, he was also linked with author Iris Murdoch. He received his British citizenship in the year 1952 and remained in England for quite a number of years till the 1970s.
Elias Canetti won the Nobel Prize in the year 1981 for his literature depicting broad outlook, ideas and genius artistry. His book Crowds and Power attained great appreciation. He spent the last 20 years of his life in Zurich. The Canetti Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica has been named after him, in his honor.
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