SOURCE: Scheichl, Sigurd Paul. “Is Peter Kien a Jew? A Reading of Elias Canetti's Auto-da-fé in its Historical Context.¹” In The Jewish Self-Portrait in European and American Literature, edited by Hans Jürgen Schrader, Elliott M. Simon, and Charlotte Wardi, pp. 159-70. Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1996.

In the following essay, originally read at the universities of Poznan and Coimbra in 1992, Scheichl examines historical events in Canetti's lifetime that appear, literally or representatively, in Auto da fé.

The English title of Elias Canetti's only novel, Auto-da-fé (1935, finished in 1931)² refers to the end of the book, when the protagonist burns himself and his library. The German title, Die Blendung, “The Blinding”, refers to something quite different: to the loss of the central character's ability to see reality, but also to the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah (Judges, ch. 13-16), to Samson's loss of force and the destruction...