Rachel's Random Recommendation #38: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain (1924) by Thomas Mann

I know that I sound like a broken record when it comes to Thomas Mann, my Favorite Author Ever In The History of The World, but I'm telling begging pleading with you to read The Magic Mountain (the John E. Woods translation).

Mann, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1929, is considered one of the most influential and brilliant writers of the 20th century, and not just in his native Germany. Not only that- Mann also stood up to fascism and Nazism, using his influence and popularity to try and persuade his fellow citizens and his readers beyond Germany to reject it as well.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #16: Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Death in Venice (1912) by Thomas Mann

Of course you know of my obsession with everything Thomas Mann. I mean, man was a genius. His books are beautiful, brilliant, and they make you use your brain until it hurts but IN A GOOD WAY.

And while The Magic Mountain is my favorite novel (of all time. Ever. End of Story), I'm recommending Mann's Death in Venice here because it is one of those stories that you'll read and then think about long after you've put it down. You'll think about it when reading other books, sitting on the beach, acknowledging an attraction. You'll think about it when you travel and when you dream about traveling. It will stay with you.

Thomas Mann Appreciation Day

[OK, there's actually no such thing as "Thomas Mann Appreciation Day," but there damn well should be, people! The following is the speech I'd give at an event celebrating the immortal author]:

As my friends and family know well, I am a bit obsessed with Thomas Mann. I've read all of his major novels (that have been translated into English- I know, don't say it), all of his short stories, a book of his essays, and the most recent biography by Hermann Kurzke (Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art, A Biography; 2002). I've even read the tetralogy, Joseph and His Brothers, all 1,492 pages of it. And I say to The Black Swan and Lotte in Weimar: you're next!

I hear all you Comparative Lit people snorting with disdain and I see you German Lit people raising angry eyebrows, but read on, and you might just forgive me.