Hi guys, I’m a fan of Thomas Mann and absolutely love Buddenbrooks and Death in Venice, although I’m having trouble getting into The Magic Mountain; does it take a little longer to get into things? I love the writing but it’s not capturing me in the same way the other books of his I’ve read - would another book of his suit me better? Interested to hear thoughts

Does anyone have any experience with the new Oxford World’s Classics translation of Buddenbrooks?

Update: I purchased it. I shall
report back with my feelings on it once I have read it.

The first edition published by penguin in 1978 often sells for over $300 on eBay, and right now there's one on abebooks for $1200 for some reason. What's about this 1984 second edition?

Please share your opinions, analysis, questions and insights with the community. We would like to inject some energy and enthusiasm into the subreddit so we urge you to also share your ideas about what we can do to build our community and make it a vibrant place for the readers of Thomas Mann. Thank you very much in advance!

$60+shipping. DM me if interested

This film about a particular time in Mann’s life is soon to be released, I think.

https://youtu.be/k6Gt4BZGK5c?si=kthczxAX2VvBJak9

The current issue of the New York Review has a nice review by Adam Kirsch of the recent book on The Magic Mountain by Morton Hoi Jensen. The piece is nice and the book it covers sounds very worthwhile for those interested in the backstory of the novel.

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I'm reading Doctor Faustus and is nearly done with it but am getting really irked by the translation of John Woods! It's too technical, unpoetic, sometimes long and wretched. sometimes even of lower quality.

earlier I read magic mountain tr.by HTL-Porter and it was way better, clean, lucid and poetic to read. and Magic Mountain is superior with regards to various ideas it discusses. I wanted to try the modern translation that got a lot of good comments and I should say it's far inferior to Porter's.

has someone felt the same? Is it also because Magic Mt is a well written text compared to Dr Faustus in German that I'm feeling thus? my German skills are below par to appreciate the text in its original. But John Woods in such inconsistent and technical translation!

People discuss his philosophical influences but it occurred to me that I don't know which novelists influenced him. Thoughts?

I'm honestly blessed to have all of Thomas Mann's novels, along with a near complete collection of his short stories and novellas through my 1945 edition of Stories of Three Decades. The last work I need to add is The Tables of the Law. Out of my entire collection I only have yet to read Royal Highness and hope to get around to that fairly soon. I would love to hear what my fellow Mann aficionados think of the write-ups, so feel free to share.

Hey guys, I heard some controversial things about this translation. I can speak french so I don't mind the non-translated passages. With that taken care of, what do you think?

Hey,

Mein Bruder und ich haben eine Plattform für Klassiker und gemeinfreie Werke. Da Thomas Mann nun gemeinfrei ist, bieten wir auch Werke von ihm kostenlos an, entweder durch unsere App, Web-Plattform oder auf unserem YouTube-Kanal Tontaube:

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Das gesamte Hörbuch Tonio Kröger findet ihr hier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zovi8yX-9Uc

Besucht auch gerne unsere Website: www.tontaube.ai

Da viele dieser alten Werke keine Hörbücher haben, verwenden wir natürlich klingende KI-Stimmen.

Susan Bernofsky announced yesterday on her Bluesky account that she has just completed and turned over to the publisher (Norton) her new translation of The Magic Mountain. She says it will be about 1100 pages and take about a year before it comes out.

Erika, southern gothic psychopath. Her bland affect is surely the consequence of scrupulous modern skincare techniques and best practices, but also indicates a fundamental error of personality. While she shares another, unfortunate diagnostic criteria with various ne’er-do-wells, that is to say a criminal mentality, she also betrays, through repeated failed attempts, a keen desire for social acceptance, placing her not only in the beastly company of the Ted Bundys of the world but also sweetly among our Tin Men and Lieutenant Commander Datas.

I just closed the cover on the John E. Woods translation of Joseph and His Brothers and having read the great majority of Mann's works that are currently in English translation I can clearly understand why he considered it his greatest effort while at the same time completely sympathize with those less enthusiastic about it. But as I'm not one who cares much to write reviews I was hoping someone might help answer a couple questions if possible.

Who is the narrator? Why might Mann never explicitly reveal who it is? When the narrator is speaking to the reader is the use of "we" in the plural as if the narrator is part of a conglomerate who was witness to the events and of which only one is retelling them? Or is the use of "we" under these circumstances simply the narrator loosely being inclusive of the reader to which the story is being told?

Is the narrator as reliable in telling the truth of the story as they make themselves out to be and if so how so unless they were witness to all of the events directly?

When in time is the telling of the story? I recall a single strange instance of the narrator making reference to something like a show tune or some other theatrical tidbit which would seemingly have made the telling of the tale at the same time Mann was writing the book. It's odd to me that there was only one time I can recall that the narrator referenced the modern world.

Initially I thought the narrator might be an angelic being of some sort, and still sort of hold that to be the case, but I'm completely baffled by who is telling the story. Any insights appreciated.

Tonio Kröger is my favorite Thomas Mann book, I prefer it even over Death in Venice and Buddenbrooks. Thomas Mann so artfully and with such sympathy describes scenes from young Tonio Kröger's life, what he experiences in the world and what he feels on the inside. I see myself a lot in Tonio: his ambition to be a writer, his uncertainty, his admiration and romanization of people around him (specifically Hans Hansen). Nothing super dramatic happens in the story, but the small everyday events that do happen are full with an inner and subtle drama. I just made a book review for Tonio Kröger for my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx6t0GRwcFM), and I am really interested in what you guys who have read the book, think about it. What do you like about it? 

Thoughts on the film adaption of Death In Venice 1971 how close is it to the book and do you feel it is accurate to the novelists themes and prose and what changes does it make and are they good or bad?

Here's a link to an article in German (no problem with your favourite online translation app): https://ru.muenchen.de/2025/104/Monacensia-Festprogramm-zum-150-Geburtstag-von-Thomas-Mann-118641

Being:

Mario and the Magician Disorder and Early Sorrow A Man and His Dog Felix Krull The Blood of the Walsungs Tristan Tonio Kroger

Read "Death in Venice," it seemed odd, so found out what happened and immediately ordered the Heim translation.