Thomas Mann

[Michel Ryckx]

When I read 'Doctor Faustus' I was more than impressed.  Serenus Zeitblom (wonderful name) writes
down his recollections on composer Leverkühn.  He begins it on 27th of May, 1943, in Germany, 'our
prison, so wide and yet so narrow'; the composer's history (selling your soul to the devil in order
to be a musical genius and to shine brightly) is Germany's (see the beginning of chapter 36).  Some
rather surreal sections (the selling of the soul; an underwater nightmare).  Furthermore, the novel
contemplates fairly often its own form.  One problem for me was I had to consult an encyclopedia
sometimes, for it presupposes (is that an English word?) a lot of knowledge on Germany's
intellectual life in the first decades of the last century.

A superb novel.

Kind regards.

Michel.