Canetti und China

eng: Elias Canetti (1905-1994) was an enthusiastic lover and investigator of Chinese culture (represented by Confucianism and Taoism). He first came into contact with the old cultural country China when he was a child. In 1928, inspired by a great mass demonstration he had experienced in Vienna on July 15, 1927, Canetti consciously started his discussion an analysis of China aiming at the subject of 'mass and power'. First results of his studies are already to be found in 1931 when his first novel has been completed - 'Die Blendung': In his madness sinology professor Peter Kien misinterpretates and misuses the philosophy of Confucius and Mencius; Chinese motives, the Great Wall and the burning of books (213 B.C.) symbolically point to Kien's fortress-like private library and his selfburning at the end of the novel. 'Death and survival', 'longevity and immortality' are (besides 'mass and power') central subjects Canetti has been working on for decades. There is one thought of Confucius which is in Canetti's view 'appropriate' for the subject of 'death'. In the old Chinese sacrificial rites he realizes 'the most authentic on the approach to the dead', which can be a chance of counteracting an extreme greediness for survival. The Taoistic method of achieving longevity by means of body training techniques fascinates Canetti and in Dschuang Tse's 'outer and inner wideness' (poetic philosophy) his love for 'Chinese culture' culminates.