Thomas Mann

[Kyriakos]

What do you think of him? I am not well-read in german literature, since apart from ETA Hoffmann, Hermann Hesse and some german-speaking authors who weren't german (Kafka, Walser) i have not found anything in it i liked.
But i did admire some of Mann's work, such as Death in Venice.

The Magic mountain was the first novel i picked up, 14 years ago. But i never finished it! I had read 3/4rths of the book, but then decided to leave it for the time being, and take a break with the Brothers Karamazov. I never returned to it though, prefering to continue reading Dostoevsky.

I have some more of his books, such as Tonio Greger, who Mann claimed was his favourite creation.

[loe]

The Zauberberg (Magic mountain) is rather strenuous to read, but in my opinion it's his best book (great atmosphere). Despite I had to read it in school I liked it a lot. ;)
There exists also a good German film adaptation of the book, but I don't know if it is available in English as well.

I really bored while reading his Doctor Faustus... so boring a book...

Buddenbrooks is still waiting for me to read.

About the person himself I don't think that Mann was a very likeable guy, especially when he had to deal with critiques...

Best regards

[Modest Proposal]

I think Mann is perhaps my favorite literary figure after Melville. Like Melville he approaches writing, in my mind, without the assumption of answers that so many of his contemporaries have, substituting instead a passionate appreciation of questions and the intelligent but different sides that are advocated. The Magic Mountain is the best work of his that I have read, though the seven stories published by Vintage is nothing less than brilliant.

[stlukesguild]

So far I've only read his short stories, and the novels The Magic Mountain and Dr. Faustus. I tend to prefer Hesse... but then again, I read both when I was in my teens and early twenties and Hesse probably relates more to the younger reader where Mann can be very dense. Both deal with typically heavy German philosophical issues... but Hesse in a more fluid, poetic manner (he was a poet after all). Still I was very impressed with both novels (and actually found Dr. Faustus to be the stronger of the two) as well as te stories... especially The Death in Venice.

Like Melville he approaches writing, in my mind, without the assumption of answers that so many of his contemporaries have, substituting instead a passionate appreciation of questions and the intelligent but different sides that are advocated.

Yes... I saw the same in Hesse... especially in his masterpiece, The Glass Bead Game where he offers no easy answer to the quandaries he raises... questions of the responsibilities of the artist... the intellectual... the individual in society, etc...

[sixsmith]

I'm pretty sure it was Mann who quipped that 'an epic is sublimated boredom.' The observation is certainly apposite to The Magic Mountain, a novel which, much like Moby Dick, eventually triumphs in spite of itself. I'm fairly certain that Mann is a great novelist but I have no desire to revisit him.

[Pecksie]

I recently read 'Death in Venice' and 'Mario the Magician'. Both are wonderful. The first is the story of an aging man's shameful (as he feels) love for a young boy, set in a decadent, diseased Venice... The second, the story of a German couple vacationing in Italy who take their kids to see a magician's show, is a forceful, albeit allegorical indictment of Fascist governments, and also a mesmerizing story.

[dfloyd]

only this time finish it. I have started more than one novel, give up on it, then returned to read it as I matured as a reader. A couple of other suggestions are The Black Swan and Felix Krull, Confidence Man.

[mal4mac]

Buddenbrooks is a much more straightforward novel than Dr Faustus, I really enjoyed reading it. It wasn't at all strenuous to read.