the Contradictions of a Master: New Study Illuminates Thomas Mann’s ‘The Magic Mountain’
A new biography sheds light on the complex life and enduring legacy of Thomas Mann, author of the modernist masterpiece The Magic mountain.
Despite initial doubts about its reception, Thomas Mann’s sprawling novel The Magic Mountain found widespread acclaim across Europe and, three years later, in the United States.A publisher in America even proclaimed its “use value… for the practical life of modern man,” a sentiment that, while sounding akin to contemporary self-help philosophies, belies the novel’s standing alongside literary giants like Marcel Proust, James joyce, Robert Musil, and Virginia Woolf.
A Novel Born of Tumult
The story centers on hans Castorp, a young man who visits a tuberculosis sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland, intending to stay only a few days but remaining for seven years. This extended stay mirrors the novel’s own protracted creation. Initially conceived as a novella, a lighter counterpart to Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain dramatically expanded in scope and ambition due to the seismic shifts brought about by World War I.
Mann’s own political evolution during this period profoundly influenced the work. Beginning the war as a staunch conservative, he later became a vocal defender of the Weimar Republic, and ultimately, a leading opponent of the Nazi regime while in exile.This internal struggle is vividly reflected in the novel thru the contrasting characters of Lodovico Settembrini, a humanist, and leo Naphta, a right-wing radical, whose intellectual clashes form a central tension of the narrative. As one observer noted, the debates between these characters are “far more so than the political toing and froing Mann engaged in while writing the novel.”
Exploring the Author’s paradoxes
Morten Høi Jensen’s recent study of The magic Mountain positions Mann as a figure defined by paradox: an artist who presented as a businessman, a homosexual within a conventional marriage with six children, and a respected citizen preoccupied with themes of death and decay.This inherent contradiction is perhaps best exemplified by Mann’s own act of sending a copy of his new novel to André gide in 1924, while together expressing his belief that Gide wouldn’t bother to read it, deeming it too “problematic” and “German” for a wider European audience.
However, Jensen’s analysis isn’t without its shortcomings. The author attempts to challenge established narratives regarding Mann’s personal life,specifically concerning his relationships with his family. He argues that the “oft-repeated claim” that Mann was an indifferent or cruel parent is inaccurate, citing a single quote from his son Klaus’s autobiography. Yet, this evidence feels thin given the “voluminous evidence to the contrary.”
Similarly, Jensen questions the assertion, made by biographer Ronald Hayman, that Mann “liked and admired” his wife but wasn’t in love with her, dismissing Hayman’s analysis with the retort, “How could he possibly know?” This skepticism appears disingenuous, considering Jensen’s own reliance on interpretative analysis. The widely held view, as articulated by Colm Tóibín, that Mann was “gay most of the time” further complicates this debate.
A Lasting Literary Legacy
Despite these minor critiques of Jensen’s work, The Magic Mountain remains a profoundly captivating exploration of the human condition and a monumental achievement in literary modernism. Jensen’s study, while not delving into the novel’s deepest mysteries, provides a “brisk, confident overview” of a complex work and its historical context. As Mann himself wrote, “only thoroughness can be truly entertaining,” but even a concise summary can offer valuable insight. the Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of the Magic Mountain by Morten Høi Jensen is published by Yale (£22).
