Original: Elias Canetti ( ; 25 July 1905 -- 14 August 1994 ) was a Bulgarian-born modernist novelist , playwright , memoirist , and non-fiction writer . He wrote in German .
Simplified: Elias Canetti ( born July 25 , 1905 â '' died August 14 , 1994 ) was an Bulgarian-Swiss Jewish author who wrote Crowds and Power .