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Thomas Mann

トーマス・マン

Thomas Mann

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1875-06-06 （Free City of Lübeck, German Empire）
Died
1955-08-12 （Zürich, Switzerland） age 80
Nationality
German, Czechoslovak, American
Languages
German
Religion
Lutheranism
Residence History
Lübeck (birth and childhood) → Munich (1891–1933) → Küsnacht / near Zürich (Switzerland, exile) → Princeton, New Jersey (USA, residence) → Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles (1942–1952) → Nida (summer cottage, now Lithuania) → Kilchberg (final residence, Switzerland)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer, Essayist, Social critic, Lecturer, Translator (limited)
Active Years
1896-1954
Affiliations
Princeton University (teaching), Library of Congress (Consultant/Fellow in Germanic Literature)
Influenced By
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Theodor Fontane, 19th-century Russian authors (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc.)
Influenced
Yukio Mishima (influenced), Joseph Campbell (cited Mann as a mentor), Many later novelists and scholars in German and comparative literature
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated by Anders Österling, awarded 1929), Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated again 1948)

Education

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Studied history, economics, art history and literature
Period: 1891–1894
Country: Germany
Studied a broad range of subjects in preparation for journalism; degree status unclear.
Technical University of Munich
As above (history, economics, etc.)
Period: 1891–1894
Country: Germany
Formal degree attainment not clearly recorded.

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature
1929
Work: Buddenbrooks (principally cited)
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
Goethe Prize
1949
Organization: Goethe Prize Committee (Frankfurt, etc.)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Buddenbrooks

1901 Novel (family saga)

An epic family saga depicting the decline of a merchant family across four generations; detailed study of bourgeois society and generational change.

Decline of a familyConflict between commerce and cultureGenerational estrangement
Adaptations
  • [Film] Buddenbrooks (film) / Heinrich Breloer (2008)
Translations
  • English translation 'Buddenbrooks' and many others

The Magic Mountain

1924 Novel (literary)

Set mainly in a sanatorium, the novel explores ideas, culture and altered experiences of time through philosophical dialogue.

Time and illnessConflicting European ideologiesGrowth and spiritual trial
Translations
  • English translation 'The Magic Mountain' and others

Death in Venice

1912 Novella

The aging writer Aschenbach becomes obsessed with the young boy Tadzio, leading to a tale of beauty, desire and decline.

Desire and repressionBeauty and deathArt and self-destruction
Adaptations
  • [Film] Death in Venice (film) / Luchino Visconti (1971)
  • [Opera] Death in Venice (opera) / Benjamin Britten (作曲・演出ではないがオペラ化) (1973)
Translations
  • English translation 'Death in Venice' and others

Joseph and His Brothers

1933 Epic tetralogy (novel series)

A four-part epic retelling of the Biblical story of Joseph, combining mythic elements and literary reinterpretation.

Myth and originsFate and familyReligious reinterpretation

Doctor Faustus

1947 Novel (modern music and Nazism)

Through the fictional composer Adrian Leverkühn, the novel examines the corruption of German culture and the rise of Nazism.

Art and ethicsMusic and modernismPolitical corruption

Bibliography

  • Buddenbrooks (1901)
  • Death in Venice (1912)
  • The Magic Mountain (1924)
  • Joseph and His Brothers (1933–1943)
  • Doctor Faustus (1947)
  • Confessions of Felix Krull (unfinished, 1954)

Adaptations

  • Film adaptation of Death in Venice (dir. Luchino Visconti, 1971), among others
  • Film adaptation of Buddenbrooks (2008)

Translations of Works

  • Buddenbrooks → English translation 'Buddenbrooks', etc.
  • The Magic Mountain → English translation 'The Magic Mountain', etc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Symbolic and ironic narrationMeticulously structured, grounded in classical eruditionA tone combining gentle humor and critical distance
Recurring Motifs
Psychology of the artist/intellectualDecline of familiesIllness and deathReferences to classical and biblical myths

Health

  • Thrombophlebitis (diagnosed)
    1955年7月–1955年8月
    Initially diagnosed as thrombophlebitis; postmortem showed a ruptured iliac artery aneurysm with retroperitoneal hematoma—misdiagnosis contributed to fatal outcome.

Legacy

One of the leading writers of 20th-century German literature. Through family sagas and philosophical novels he explored European culture, art and politics. A Nobel laureate with lasting international influence; numerous institutions and museums preserve and study his legacy.

Museums

  • Buddenbrook House (Buddenbrookhaus), Lübeck Lübeck, Germany
  • Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, USA
  • Thomas Mann Summer Cottage / Culture Centre, Nida Nida (now Lithuania)

Academic Societies

  • Thomas Mann International network (TMI-Research)
  • Various academic societies and research groups on Thomas Mann

Archives

  • Thomas Mann Archive, ETH Zurich
  • Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Yale) — Thomas Mann Collection

In Popular Culture

  • Visconti's film Death in Venice (1971) and many other film, opera and musical references.
  • Motifs from The Magic Mountain and Death in Venice continue to be reinterpreted in contemporary novels, music and films.

Quotes

  • “The war is horrible, but it has the advantage of keeping Hitler from making speeches about culture.”
    Source: BBC German Service broadcast (circa 1940) (1940)

Trivia

  • Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929; used the prize money to build a cottage in Nida.
  • Went into exile after the Nazi rise to power in 1933; lived in the United States during WWII and became a U.S. citizen in 1944.
  • Destroyed many of his early diaries in 1945; the surviving diaries were published posthumously and caused significant public reaction.