A young author timidly approaches Nobel laureate Thomas Mann with his debut novel, only to be politely dismissed. Half a century later, the author travels to Stockholm himself to accept the prize. Elias Canetti occasionally referred to himself as a poor letter writer. Despite this, the treasure of his correspondence is a significant literary historical event. Nearly 600 letters to booksellers, Germanists, and journalists, as well as to colleagues such as Theodor W. Adorno, Thomas Bernhard, Erich Fried, Claudio Magris, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, and Hilde Spiel, delve deeply into the cultural world of post-war Europe and into a unique century of life.