Thomas Mann

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Otto, don't know whether we're the same generation, but we're probably not too
far apart:

It has been fashionable to dislike Thomas Mann among German intellectuals for
quite some time now. I know students of German literature who are actually proud
of never having read one of his books. The main reason for this is probably that
Mann's work could not be related to the changes in society that took place after
the war. The aesthetics of the emerging youth culture were based upon notions of
freedom, spontaneity, direct expression etc. They were essentially romantic, and
that is why a minor late romantic writer like Hesse could become very popular
back then (to listen to "Born to be Wild" is as tedious an experience nowadays
as it would be to reread "Der Steppenwolf": both are strictly for adolescents).
Thomas Mann's aesthetic sensibility, on the other hand,  was classicist. He
relied on order, control, and that famous irony of his. Furthermore, he was
definitely a high culture person. His narratorial style as well as his public
persona were considered boring, if not offensive, in the 60s, and this attitude
towards him has continued in the German speaking parts of the world until today.
The fact that he wrote some of the best novels of the century is rarely
mentioned.

Perhaps one can compare Thomas Mann to Henry James: Both of them worked in the
19th century tradition of George Eliot, Gustave Flaubert, Tolstoi etc., refining
this tradition to the point at which James Joyce decided he didn't need a
narrator to put his character's thoughts on the page. This does not mean,
though, that "Ulysses" is a better book than the "Buddenbroks" or "Portrait of a
Lady": It is just a step forward in the development of the form. As far as youth
culture etc. is concerned: Jack Kerouac may have had an immense impact on
society - giving voice to a sensibility that seemed new at the time- but he
never produced a book remotely as good as one of those huge novels James and
Mann were fond of writing down.

Thomas

"The Book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all to young to know."

The Magnetic Fields