  |
|
|
|
Thomas Mann, Author and CriticGerman Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Philanthropist
Brief biography of German writer and social critic Thomas Mann, Nobel laureate for literature in 1929. Famous for Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain.
Thomas Mann became one of the leading novelists of 20th century Germany at the young age of 25. He was also a short story writer, essayist, social critic, and a philanthropist. A 1929 Nobel Prize winner in literature, he is famous for his novels The Magic Mountain, Joseph and His Brothers, and Doktor Faustus, among others. One of his legacies is a famous institution in Budapest named in his honour, the Thomas Mann Gymnasium. Early Life of Thomas MannPaul Thomas Mann was born on June 6, 1875, in Lübeck, Germany, to a wealthy, middle-class German family. In his early 20s he worked in business but wanted to be a writer. When his father died in 1891 and the family business was liquidated, they eventually moved to Munich. A change in his family's fortunes inspired him to write a long, detailed family novel, Buddenbrooks, which was an immediate success and made his reputation. For such a young man this was a remarkably mature work. FamilyHe married Katia Pringsheim in 1905. His wife came from a prominent Jewish family of intellectuals. They had six children, who also pursued literary and artistic careers. Mann took US citizenship in 1944 and settled in Zurich in 1952 where he died at the age of 80, on August 12, 1955. The Successful AuthorDuring the next 20 years or so Mann concentrated on short novels, or novellas. When he was 49, he published his second long novel, The Magic Mountain. This book, set in a hospital for patients recovering from tuberculosis, started as a short story but grew into a long and serious novel. It earned him the 1929 Nobel Prize for literature and established Mann as a novelist of international acclaim. Between 1933 and 1943, when he was in his late 50s, Mann embarked on his most ambitious work, a modern version of the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers. Published in four volumes and together known as Joseph and His Brothers, the work concerns the conflict between personal freedom and political tyranny. Effect of World War IIHis most powerful books were derived from experiences during the World War II in which he opposed fascism. As a free and outspoken writer, Mann was forced to leave Germany, which was then under the control of the Nazis. He went to the United States, where he produced his final great work, Doktor Faustus. It is a version of a well-known German legend in which a man, Faust, makes a deal with the devil, probably, his thoughts aligned on the destructive course of Nazi Germany at that time. He later settled in Zurich until his final years. Works by Thomas Mann
Sources:Chambers Biographical Dictionary, New Edition, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002 Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse plc, 1994
The copyright of the article Thomas Mann, Author and Critic in Great Writers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Thomas Mann, Author and Critic in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
