Introduction by T. J. Reed; Translation by H. T. Lowe-Porter
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
A Monumental Work But Also A Heavy Read:
Thomas Mann combines classical music, philosophy, social commentary, and fiction all in one impressive monumental work. This is a complex and time consuming read from the great writers and a Nobel laureate: Paul Thomas Mann (1875-1955), German novelist, short story writer, and social commentator. If you expect to finish this book and understand it, be prepared for a test of will power: you versus the author. It took me over two weeks to read it, maybe three. Was it worth it? I am still not certain, but it... more info
A Reckoning.:
"Yes ... we are lost. That is to say: the war is lost, but that means more than a lost military campaign, in fact it means that *we* are lost, lost is our substance and our soul, our faith and our history. It is over with Germany; ... an unnamable collapse, economical, political, moral and spiritual, in short, all-encompassing, is becoming apparent, -- I don't want to have wished for what is looming, because it is despair, it is madness."* Thus, the narrator of Thomas Mann's last completed and, I... more info
A shattering feast of despair:
"What human beings have fought for and stormed citadels, what the ecstatics exultantly announced -- that is not to be. It will be taken back. I will take it back." "I don't quite understand, dear man. What will you take back?" "The Ninth Symphony."
great and dark novel:
Thomas Mann was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and this was his last and perhaps his greatest novel. Reading it is a daunting challenge as it merges history with philosophy and religion with music history and composition. This novel requires great concentration. Sustained reading is however greatly rewarded. I am still mulling over much that is in this novel. Written and presented against the backdrop of the closing years of World War II and the horrors of Nazi Germany, the novel is also... more info
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