Elias Canettis Idee der Sprache und der Literatur. Überlegungen in Die Blendung und Die Stimmen von Marrakesch

The present papers aims to investigate Canetti’s ideas of Language and Literature in his novel Die Blendung. It is a comparative analysis with his travelogue Die Stimmen von Marrakesch that tries to highlight the role Language plays in Canetti’s work. In Wien of the early 20th Century the young Canetti was fascinated by Karl Kraus, he experienced the debates about the determination of Language (Mauthner, Wittgenstein). Language has a fundamental role in Canetti’s life and work, not only from a biographical point of view: he considers Language as a mysterious force that allows people to know the world. Language is for him not only a medium to communicate, but also a reflection of the world. Language represents a timeless activity that allows the development of subjectivity and individuality.