Elias Canetti (1905-94), winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature, was one of the major intellectual figures of the twentieth century. A master of many genres, he is best known for his novel Auto Da Fé and his great work of social theory Crowds and Power. But Canetti's genius is perhaps nowhere more evident that in the three volumes of his autobiography: The Tongue Set Free, The Torch in My Ear and The Play of the Eyes.