This extraordinary novel, first published in German in 1935, is a COMEDIE HUMAINE of madness. It tells the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished scholar in Germany between the wars. With masterly precision, Canetti build up the elements in Kien himself, and in his personal relationships, which will lead to his destruction. AUTO DA FE explores in fiction the theme of Canetti's other major - non -fiction work, CROWDS AND POWER- the relation of the individual to the mass, an issue especially relevant to any survey of fascism.