I Want to Keep Smashing Myself Until I Am Whole

This is the definitive introduction to Canetti’s writing with excerpts from multiple works, including notes from Canetti’s exile in London, political essays, and “Auto-da-Fé,” a novel about a reclusive scholar who owns the greatest private library in Vienna.

The bibliophile in the novel, named Georges Kien, begins each day with a morning walk to look into the windows of booksellers, to confirm the superiority of his own collection. Entropy increases when he marries his housekeeper, Therese, and encounters a series of grotesque figures who contribute to the destruction of his library.

Sounds bleak, yes, but if Kafka makes you laugh,… show more.