Curriculum Vitae

 

1905	Born on 25 July in Ruse, Bulgaria. Mother tongue Ladino (archaic dialect of Spanish).
1911	Moved to Manchester, England. First school. Earliest lessons in English.
1912	Sudden death of his father. War breaks out in the Balkans.
1913	His mother moves to Vienna with her three small sons. German lessons from his mother. Elementary school in Vienna.
1914	First World War begins. Enthusiastic crowds take to the streets of Vienna.
1916	Zurich. Canton school until 1921. Excellent teachers.
1921-22	Frankfurt. Upper secondary school. Demonstrations after the death of German industrialist and politician Walter Rathenau. Inflation.
1924	Graduated ("Abitur") in Frankfurt. Return to Vienna. Study of chemistry. Lectures by the Austrian writer-critic Karl Kraus a decisive influence.
1925	First outline for a book about crowd psychology.
1927	15 July: the Viennese Law, Court burns.
1928	Visit to Berlin. Meets George Grosz, Brecht and Isaak Babel.
1929	Receives his doctorate in Vienna.
1930-31	Works on his novel Die Blendung.
1932	Hochzeit ["The Marriage"] - a play.
1934	Komodie der Eitelkeit ["The Comedy of Vanity"] - marries Veza Taubner-Calderon.
1935	Publishes Die Blendung
1938	Hitler occupies Austria. November: emigration via Paris to London.
1939	During the following two decades concentration on his forthcoming work, Masse und Macht.
1946	Publication of Auto-da-Fé, the English version of Die Blendung in a translation by C. V. Wedgwood. [Appeared in the US in 1947 as The Tower of Babel.]
1952	Receives British citizenship.
1956	Premiere of his play Die Befristeten ["Their Days are Numbered"] in Oxford.
1960	Masse und Macht [Crowds and Power, tr. 1962] published in Hamburg.
1963	Death of Veza Canetti.
1964	The three plays Hochzeit, Komodie der Eitelkeit and Die Befristeten appear.
1965	Aufzeichnungen 1942-48 ["Sketches"].
1968	Die Stimmen von Marrakesch [The Voices of Marrakesh tr. 1978] published by Hanser in Munich.
1969	Der andere Prozess. Kafkas Briefe an Felice [Kafka's Other Trial, tr. 1974].
1971	Marries Hera Buschor.
1972	Receives the Buchner Prize in Darmstadt.
1973	Die Provinz des Menschen. Aufzeichnungen 1942-1972 [The Human Province, tr. 1978].
1974	Der Ohrenzeuge. Funfzig Charaktere [Ear Witness: Fifty Characters, tr. 1979].
1975	Das Gewissen der Wort. Essays ["The Conscience of Words"]. Receives honorary doctorates from Manchester and Munich.
1977	Die gerettete Zunge. Geschichte einer Jugend. [The Tongue Set Free, tr. 1979].
1980	Die Fackel im Ohr. Lebensgeschichte 1921-1931 [The Torch in My Ear, tr. 1982]. Receives the order Pour le mérite in Bonn.
1981	Receives the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature.
1985	Das Augenspiel. Lebensgeschichte 1931-1937 [The Play of the Eyes tr. 1990].
1987	Das Geheimhen der Uhr. Aufzeichnungen 1973-1985 [The Secret Heart of the Clock, tr 1989].
1992	Die Fliegenpein, Aufzeichnungen/Pain of Flies: Notes.

From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1981-1990, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Sture Allén, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1993

This CV was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

 

Elias Canetti died on August 14, 1994.

 

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1981