The Cambridge Introduction to Thomas MannNobel Prize-winner Thomas Mann (1875-1955) is not only one of the leading German novelists of the twentieth century, but also one of the few to transcend national and language boundaries to achieve major stature in the English-speaking world. Famous from the time that he published his first novel in 1901, Mann became an iconic figure, seen as the living embodiment of German national culture. Leading scholar Todd Kontje provides a succinct introduction to Mann's life and work, discussing key moments in Mann's personal life and his career as a public intellectual, and giving readers a sense of why he is considered such an important - and controversial - writer. At the heart of the book is an informed appreciation of Mann's great literary achievements, including the novel The Magic Mountain and the haunting short story Death in Venice. |
Contents
Origins influences and early mastery | 13 |
Artists and outcasts in Manns early fiction | 33 |
Death in Venice | 46 |
A return to literature | 61 |
Joseph and his Brothers | 78 |
Transposed Heads and The Tables ofthe Law | 96 |
Tribulations and final triumphs | 113 |
Notes | 128 |
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anti-Semitic argued artist autobiographical begins brother Buddenbrooks career Castorp Chauchat Christian confession conflict cosmopolitan cultural Death in Venice decades defined depiction desire diaries diflicult Doctor Faustus drama essay Europe European exile father Felix Krull fictional figure final finally find French German nation Germany’s Goethe Goethe’s Gustav von Aschenbach H. T. Lowe-Porter Hagenstroms Hanseatic Heinrich Mann Hermann Holy Sinner homosexual Ianuary identified Iewish Iews influences intellectual Iohann Ioseph Katia Katia Mann Katia Pringsheim Klaus Klaus Mann Knopf later letter Leverkiihn lews Liibeck literary Little Herr Friedemann lived Lotte in Weimar Magic Mountain Mann began Mann wrote Mann’s Mann’s fiction marriage married modern mother Munich Naphta narrator Nazi Nietzsche novella ofthe passion political Pringsheim prose protagonist racial role Royal Highness sanatorium Schopenhauer sense Settembrini sexual social specific Spinell Story ofa Novel symbolic Tadzio Thomas Mann Tonio Kroger trans Wagner’s woman writing young Zeitblom