ABSTRACT
When Elias Canetti was informed that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature he accepted the honor in the name of four Austrians who had not been so honored: Franz Kafka, 1 Karl Kraus, Robert Musil, and Hermann Broch. 2 There can be little doubt that Canetti’s remark was highly ironic. It was not simply that one great Austrian writer had been neglected in his eyes, but a whole series of them—Canetti’s very heroes and exemplars—had been passed over. On the surface, then, Canetti was reminding those who would honor him of the remarkable richness and critical potential in Austrian letters and at the same time emphasizing the lack of recognition that these writers had suffered. He thus chose to underscore that in honoring him, an Austrian, born in Bulgaria, living in London, and writing in German, the Swedish Academy would be honoring his heroes too.
