"What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup."
- Literature Nobel Prize winner in 1958 Boris Pasternak (Feb 10, 1890 - May 30, 1960) Januar 1978 in: The New York Times
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Quite Classic Literature: “Dr. Faustus” (Thomas Mann)
Author: Thomas Mann (1875-1955)
Volume: about 600 pages (depends on the edition)
Price: about 10.- € (depends on the edition)
Thomas Mann, sure one the greatest German authors of all time and maybe the greatest of 20th century literature in the “land of poets and thinkers”.With “Doctor Faustus”, written between 1943 and 1947 by the Nobel Prize of Literature Winner in 1929, Mann crowned his own doing, his outstanding work with a very complex novel which affects not simply the life of the main figure in this text, the composer Adrian Leverkühn. This masterpiece is about the whole progress of a German nation in their decay of morality and human values facing Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich – the most cruel part of German history, made by itself.
In addition to this, Mann, who was chronically ill when he finished his work with a lot of references to the historical person of Dr. Faust and Goethe’s masterpiece, too, situated this novel in an environment of classical music – inspired by Arnold Schönberg’s Twelve-Tone-Method, the harmonic ideal of Beethoven and many more well-known composers of bygone times.
Last but not least, different famous philosophers built the basis for Thomas Mann’s idea and concept for his literature. Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard – the result for his work of this mix-up is tremendous and also pays tribute to these mentioned great thinkers.
If you are interested in profound high-quality literature, 20th century history not only of Germany, of Europe, Mann’s really magnificent idea of the conditions of human life, some serious insights into classical music and a really elaborated language – this masterpiece is made for you.
One good bet: To catch the meaning of Mann’s literature, it makes sense to read other smaller novels, short stories before. There you can find and understand the concept, die idea behind his work which repeats itself in almost every of his work. Therefore try e.g.: “Death in Venice” or “Tonio Kroger” – both I can just warmly recommend.
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