Thomas Mann

[hardblue]

Although Thomas Mann is a 20th-century writer, he does write as if he is living under the moral restrictiveness of the Charles Dickens era. It is perhaps my main regret about the man. I wouldn’t have minded if he had a little touch of the Henry Miller philosophy when it comes to sex and literature - a touch

Comments

novels

[pigshitpoet]

i'm not a mann man, what mann do you like best?

RE: novels

[hardblue]

I'm in for the whole oeuvre, including the biographies and critical essays on his work. But it was "Magic Mountain" that brought me in.

RE: novels

[pigshitpoet]

what do you like about him specifically?

RE: novels

[hardblue]

His way of seeing and thinking grooves with mine, I guess. He has a pessimistic outlook on life. The reason why I have gotten into Schopenhauer, for instance, is because he is Mann's philosopher, and a quick Wikipedia read on Schopenhauer can relate that nature of that pessimistic philosophy on life, which also makes a romance of art - that idea that it is through art where we really live. Even his German background, which includes the Nazi era, brings out his sense of fatalism. He also plays heavily on the theme about how all this falls only more heavily on the genius, which is to play on his autobiography. Although I cannot relate to this genius aspect, one can appreciate the added romantic layer that brings to all of this. He is the quintessential tormented artist, and practically all his work plays on this. He is practically as much a philosopher of art as he is an artist, and he is very much the artist. As you can perhaps tell, I am very interested in the background issues and philosophy of literature along with the