Auto - da - Fe [Summary and Interpretation]
Auto - da - Fe
- Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti:
Born: 1905 at Bulgaria
Died: 1994 at Switzerland
Framework:
Auto-da-Fe was originally published as Die Blendung in the year 1935 and this book was translated by C.V.Wedgood.
Auto-da-Fe Splits into three parts:
1. A Head without a World
2. Headless World
3. The World in the Head
Characters:
Setting:
Part - 1
A HEAD WITHOUT A WORLD
Professor Kein is the Owner of the Private Library in the whole great city. He is a person who always carries a minute portion of books in his Suitcase. Professor Kein always walks in the morning between 7:00 to 8:00 in order to open his private library because he does not want to be temped by seeing the other bookshop as he was very curious with books. And great number of Bookshop did not open until after 8:00. And on his morning walk meets a little boy and they both have a conversation. Professor Kein asks certain questions to the little boy:
1. Would you prefer to read books or a piece of chocolate?
The boy replies that he would prefer to read books and the little boy also says that he is afraid of his dad - Franz Metzger.
2. Would you like to travel to foreign countries?
The boy replies saying that he would like to travel to INDIA and CHINA because India has lots of Tigers and China has Huge Walls. Then the boy says that he would always like to read CHINESE LITERATURE, because it has 40,000 letters.
3. Where do you Live?
The Boy replies as 24 Ehrlich Strasse then Kein says that he too lives in same place. The little boys says that he had seen Professor Kein and he also knows maid Marie.
Professor Kein when he sees the little boy he recognized himself with the boy. Kein invites the Little Boy to the Library and the Little Boy reads the book against the fathers will. The boy was not afraid of Chinese Language rather he recognized the writings at his first sight. The boy hesitated to touch the book as his hands was dirty. Professor Kein feels proud of that boy.
Professor Kein:
😎 PERSONALITY OF KEIN: He has Narrow Face, Stern and Bony and he does not give any importance to the physical appearances. He does not have mirror, and whenever he wants to look at himself, he viewed through the windows of the Bookshop.
Description of the Library:
✔ The library had 25,000 volume of Books
✔ The Door had highly complicated locks
✔ In the Hall there was Umbrella, Coat Stand and then Professor Kein's Study.
✔ He always sits in Armchair
✔ The entire wall ceiling was closed with books and Sky-lights had been let into ceiling.
Importance of Time:
🕒 Little Boys played football
🕒 Adults always focused on their works
🕒 Wasted Time on Love, Sleeping for 8 hours, and they devoted their entire time on the work which they don't like
Then Kein gives advertisement in the Newspaper as:
"A man of Learning who owns exceptionally large wants responsibility minded housekeeping. Only applicants of highest character need to apply. Unsuitable persons will be shown the door. MONEY NO OBJECT".
On seeing the advertisement Therese Kumbholz enters the library to meet Kein for her Job. Therese is introduced as Housekeeper her job was to dust the shelves everyday, each book individually every four days she starts to dust the books. Therese now gets chance to observe Kein closely she was very curious to know - what Kein does in "Past six until seven in the morning". Kein had said that he would Pray but Therese says that Prayers at home are waste of beautiful time and she also says that respectable person does not need these sort of things. Therese then says Respectable persons sleep at 9:00.
Therese now had worked in the Kein's Library for 8 Years and she feels that "Prices are going up all the time, they are not the same anymore". - Here we can see that nothing is permanent in this world everything changes as the world changes.
Kein says that people on Sunday's were resting in their life as:
😓 On Weekdays - People would sweat and babble to earn a living
😓 On Sundays - People would sweat and do nothing
And for Kein all days were same as he goes to the library always and in silence. Then the little boy visits the Library now the little boy was not allowed inside the Library. Little Boys says to Therese that Kein had given him permission to enter the Library. Kein says:
"He is lying I promised nothing I told him I would show him some pictures of India and China if I ever had time, I have no time send him away".
Here we can see that the boy is ready to learn but because of his father the boy is unable to learn. Parents take away the children's from school and put them in trade.
"There is nothing good left in the world"
Here the author tries to covey that if at all the little boy is ready to read books but his father never allows him to read books the world is completely changing and it is running after the unreal things as technologies etc., In those days people would go to library and read books but now a days things are changing as we stick on to our Laptops, Mobile etc. we prefer reading books in PDF format rather than buying them.
Now Kein thinks to marry Therese because more than Kein now Therese knows how to handle books well when Kein gives book to Therese she wears gloves and handles book well. As they get married Therese eagers Kein to buy Furniture Kein gives half of his money to Therese in order to buy Furniture. Here we can see that Kein is not interested in materialistic things but Therese always needs luxurious things.
Reason for their marriage
Kein marries Therese to protect his books,
Therese marries Kein for Financial Security.
At this end of the chapter their is a violence between Kein and Therese, they quarrel at each other as they both realized the truth.
Part - 2
HEADLESS WORLD
In this chapter the author has used HALLUCINATION & DREAMS in order to create a ghostly underworld.
Now Therese sends Kein out of the flat, Kein becomes Homeless. Kein sleeps every night in different hotel and he has to carry his entire new library in his head and his suitcase remains empty. As Kein enter the hotel each day the Porter would look at Kein differently as Kein is the person who comes without any luggage. So Kein gives some fantastic tips of 50 % to the porters. Kein then goes to Starts of Heaven which is a Red – light district there He meets a chess playing a hump dwarf – Fischerle.
Kein meets Fischerle and Fischerle asks to Kein Do you play chess? then Fischerle says that - “Chess is the matter of brain”
“A person may be 12 feet
tall, but if he doesn’t play chess, he’s a fool.”
Then Kein replies to Fischerle that – “Everyone in book racket plays chess.”
Features of Fischerle
👦 His Mouth was small
👦 No forehead, No ears, No Neck, No Button – The man consisted of a hump: a majestic nose – two black, calm and sad eyes.
👦 He had a Hoarse Voice
Kein is determined to write and so he made a list of books that is needed – went to the bookshop and gave the list of books. As he was sleeping in different hotels at the nights and he was unable to keep the books with him. Solution is to keep the books in his head. Now Fischerle takes Kein to Pawnshop were he makes some money by buying & selling pawned goods.
Pawnshop
Fischerle and Kein goes to
Pawnshop were Kein is shocked to see SCHILLERS COLLECTION and Kein
heart was broken on seeing books at the Pawnshop and now he is ashamed of
himself.
Description of the Pawn Shop
Name of the Pawnshop: Theresianum
→ Jewels, Gold, Silver were kept at main entrance,
→ Floors were arranged according to the value of objects.
→ Top floor were arranged with shoes, coats & postage stamps,
→ At the sixth and Topmost floor Books were kept.
→ To reach topmost floor – Ordinary Staircases
→ Glass Doors – Badly Oiled
→ Notice Board
Hallucination of Kein
Kein then offers a job for Fischerle as Cataloging his Library, The Library which now exist in his head.
He then strews the paper all around the room as to assume himself that there are books all over him.
“He begged the books
not to fall down, he was tired and he wanted to take rest.”
Changes in Kein
At the beginning of this novel we can see that Kein doesn’t give importance to the HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE. As he was sent away from
the house he changes himself as:
Now he uses
Wardrobe, asks the maid to clean the carpet, asks 10 sheets of brown paper to
spread on the white carpet.
Part - 3
THE WORLD IN THE HEAD
Twists
Fischerle tells Kein that Therese has died.
Kein doesn’t want to go to his flat and save his book as he has a dream
that the Pawnshop might be Therese as it is named as – THERESEIANUM
Therese always is busy on searching the bankbook of Kein – Then she fixes
a caretaker called Benedikt Pfaff.
Police Station
As they were standing in Pawnshop Kein and Pfaff get arrested.
Reason
Kein gets arrested because they think that he is
responsible for the death of his wife (But that is not true)
Pfaff gets
arrested because he molested his own child {Anna/Polly} and he is the reason
for the death of his daughter.
Benedikt Pfaff
His family is of five in number i.e. his wife, his daughter (Pally/Anny) and three times over himself:
➤ Himself as Policemen
➤ Himself as Husband
➤ Himself as Father
Pfaff was the one who got money for home. Washing all the stairs was his
wife duty. He now & then permits his
daughter and wife to earn a little by washing or by cleaning. Thus they learned
by their own experiences how hard a father had to work when he had a family to
support. And when his wife delayed on cooking Pfaff loses his Patience and he
would break down then he would beat his wife. His wife died under his hands. Before
Pfaff goes out he locks her daughter into the backroom, so that she would
devote herself more towards cooking. And whenever Pally decided to go for
shopping she should laugh and then she would be given a piece of meat.
“A bad piece of
meat is nothing more nor less than a crime”
She was given only half an hour time to shop and
that too five minutes will be taken by Pfaff.
Pfaff punishes her daughter after the death of his wife.
Anna / Polly
She is a victim with no source to defend herself against her father’s
violence & corruption.
George
He is 35 years old
Brother of Kein
He is a Gynecologist in Paris
He knows about women than books.
He plays a minor role in this novel.
Conclusion
Kein feels that he should save his library so he sets fire to his library
in order to save books from the pawnshop.
“The Books ends with his laughter”
This novel
depicts the importance of Book of how they have to be handled and taken time to
read books. And this novel also depicts how people change as the world changes
and the advancement leads changes in the world.
Themes
• BOOKS
• HALLUCINATION
• IMPORTANCE OF TIME
• CHANGES IN WORLD
• VIOLENCE
• OPPRESSION OF WOMEN
Very Helpful notes ❤😍 Thank you so much
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