Elias Canetti (Bulgarian Елиас Канети; born on July 25th, 1905 in Ruse, princedom of Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian-British author from a Spaniole-Jewish Family.
He spent his first years in Bulgaria and England. After his father's early death in 1912, the Family moved to Vienna. In 1916, the Mother, siblings, and him moved to neutral Switzerland because of the Austrian war patriotism. As late as at the age of 12 years, he learned the German language, which stayed his true home, as he confessed in „Provinz des Menschen“.
In 1923, he finished high school in Frankfurt. After getting his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1929, he conceived an eight-parted novel cycle, which first Work – Die Blendung (Auto-da-Fé) – he finished in 1931.
In 1938, the „Anschluss“ of Austria to Nazi-Germany forced him and his wife Veza (whom he married in 1934) to emigrate to London. After moving to England, Canetti concentrated fully on the Research for his long-time planned Book about the crowds.
He is a worshipper of Karl Kraus. Besides German, he also speaks Ladino (his native language), Bulgarian, English, and some French.
