August 14 marks 30 years since the death of Elias Canetti (1905-1994) The embargo on his secret papers, kept in the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich, will be lifted. There are thirty boxes containing his correspondence and his diaries from October 21, 1941 to December 30, 1986.

Canetti distinguished between notes (Aufzeichnungen), diary notes (Merkbücher) and diaries (Tagenbuecher) In the archives it is clear that, especially after his second marriage, “he wanted to write a human comedy 'about lunatics'