British · 1905–1994
Elias Canetti won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature for "writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power." Born in Bulgaria, educated in Austria, exiled to England, the author wrote in German about crowds, power, and the persistence of mythology in modern life. His novel "Auto-da-Fé" depicts a scholar destroyed by the world outside his library. "Crowds and Power" remains essential reading for understanding mass psychology.