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Elias Canetti

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Author

The Resume

    (July 25, 1905-August 14, 1994)
    Born in Ruse, Bulgaria
    Became a British citizen (1952)
    Notable works include the novel 'Auto-de-Fe' (1935), the psychological study 'Crowds and Power' (1960), and the memoirs 'The Tongue Set Free' (1977), 'The Torch in My Ear' (1980), and 'The Play of the Eyes' (1985)
    Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1981)

Why he might be annoying:

    At age ten, when his widowed mother was contemplating a new marriage, he threatened to jump off the balcony of their apartment is she did it. ('It was a terrible threat, it was made in earnest.')
    He earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Vienna, but never put it to use.
    'Auto-de-Fe' was supposed to be part of an eight-novel saga, but he never wrote the remaining books.
    He wrote several plays that have been described as 'virtually unactable.'
    He would answer his phone while pretending to be a Chinese cook or an upper-class English woman. (Close friends knew they had to let the phone ring a set number of times, hang up, and call again to get him answering as himself.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was fluent in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), Bulgarian, German, French, and English.
    He left Austria for England just before the country was annexed by Nazi Germany (1938).
    He inspired characters in several novels by Iris Murdoch (one of his lovers).
    His works drew comparisons to those of Dostoyevsky and Kafka.

Credit: C. Fishel


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    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying