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1929. Mann, German essayist, cultural critic, and novelist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. Among Mann's most famous works are Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain. His novels usually explore the relationship between the exceptional individual and his or her environment, the environment of family, or of the world in general. Contents: Goethe and Tolstoy; Frederick the Great and the Grand Coalition; and An Experience in the Occult. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Mainly for Mann's Comments of his "Spiritualist" Experience!
Needless to say, anything written by Thomas Mann, one of the greatest authors and essayists in world history, is more than worthwhile. This collection is most noteworthy for what may be the most authentic and realistic experience of a seance ever put to paper. The similar chapter in his MAGIC MOUNTAIN is based on this onetime situation where Mann and a well known sceptic were invited to participate in this very convincing experience. Since Mann had phenomenal powers of observation, it seems hard to believe that he was hoodwinked here, but anyone reading this may actually believe the very odd things described. Later in life, it is said that Mann disavowed this essay and seance. Those who are familiar with descriptions by many less than credible witnesses should read this description. However, I think that even such a great mind as Thomas Mann could have been hoodwinked! ... Read more

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Great way to get a taste for Dostoevsky!
Must read for minimum exposure to the great Dostoevsky, the mind opener who truly considered what makes us human and our relationships with each other and our God. ... Read more

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Thomas Mann's response to the crisis of modernity and the catastrophe of fascism is defined by the thematic matrix of history, myth and music: this book is the first to explore the interrelations of the three - and the first study to approach the music in Mann's fiction through narrative theory. Discussion centers on Mann's preoccupation with redemption, which begins with his Nietzschean critique of Wagner's redemption motifs, and culminates in his radical questioning of the Christian myth in Doctor Faustus. The argument is developed through reference to four seminal figures, Nietzsche, Wagner, Weber and Tillich; while the centrality of Nietzsche and Wagner to Mann is well known, ... Read more

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A collection of 33 essays reflecting the role of music in German theories of national identity and the importance of music theory in German thought. Includes essays by Thomas Mann, Immanuel Kant, Max Weber, and Bertolt Brecht. Includes notes on the authors. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Port ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Book review
I was thankful for the quick delivery of this book which I really needed fast; the seller was very obliging

small, powerful narration
This is one of Thomas Mann's shorter narrations, and it is one of the most concentrated ones, with a strong atmosphere and a simple plot. It is about a family spending their summer vacation in an Italian village about 1930. One day, a kind of magician announces a show. After some time, it is clear that he is not a normal circus magician, but he has an alarming way of behaving and the ability to manipulate and to humiliate people just by the strength of his will.

"Mario and the Magician" (something must have gone wrong with the title, Mario is not the magician) was written in 1930, a time when Europe slowly was running towards the darkness of fascism, and this explains the political background of the narration. Some people wondered why Mussolini allowed to publish an Italian translation... ... Read more

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Thomas Mann, fascinated with the concept of genius and with the richness of German culture, found in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe the embodiment of the German culture hero. Mann's novelistic biography of Goethe was first published in English in 1940. Lotte in Weimar is a vivid dual portrait--a complex study of Goethe and of Lotte, the still-vivacious woman who in her youth was the model for Charlotte in Goethe's widely-read The Sorrows of Young Werther. Lotte's thoughts, as she anticipates meeting Goethe again after forty years, and her conversations with those in Weimar who knew the great man, allow Mann to assess Goethe's genius from many points of view. Hayden White's fresh appraisal of the novel reveals its consonances with our own concerns. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I had read it in Spanish, boring from German translation. In English, beautitiful. EXPENSIVE: softcover at 26 dollars
All translations into Spanish from German are tedious to read, but from German to English almost nothing is lost and it's a pleasure voyage to read!

A charming "sequel" to Werther
It is not only recommended, but it is incumbent on anyone who wishes to read this book to read "The Sorrows Of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe first.Otherwise, this book will make no sensewhatsoever.

Mann writes a hilarious tale of "what if?" thereal life Charlotte Kestner & Goethe met up in Weimer 50 or so yearsafter the publication of Werther.The result is a true masterpiece ofwriting.We get to meet Charlotte, as well as Arthur Schopenhaur's ratherditzy (at least in this novel, anyway) sister, Adele along withthealmighty Goethe himself.The book centers around an interesting question: which is more real?The true life Charlotte?Or the fictional one ofWerther? This is an intriguing question, as Mann furnishes the"real" Kestner (which is also a fictional one) with a"real" personality;something which was rather lacking inGoethe's story.

The book has everything one would want for fans ofboth Goethe and Mann.It articulates the "pressures" put onpeople who exist in reality who provide the inspiration for fictionalcharacters in novels.Who, in fact, has it worse?The innocent individualwho is inserted into fictional stories?Or the artist who feeds personalexperiences into the machinery of his genius with the efficacy of producinggreat art?Who makes the greater sacrifice in the name of creativity?

This is a truly wonderful book.Although most of Mann's books have adistinctive humor to them, this one is much more lighthearted than any ofhis others.There is even a wonderful chapter in which we first meetGoethe....a stream-of-consciousnesswhich asks the $60,000 question:whatHAPPENS inside a mind as massive as Goethe's?It kind of reminded me ofHermann Broch's "The Death Of Virgil" which asked a similarquestion regarding the mental acumen of Virgil in a stream-of-consciousnessway.In either case, who could ask for anything more? ... Read more

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The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim.

Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.

In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. "It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity." ... Read more