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Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family
A classic of modern literature: Buddenbrooks is the story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany facing the advent of modernity; in an uncertain new world, the family’s bonds and traditions begin to disintegrate. With an introduction by T. J. Reed, and translated by John E. Woods.
As Mann charts the Buddenbrooks’ decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence, and madness, he ushers the reader into a world of stunning vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip, and earthy humor.
First published in Germany in 1901, when Mann was only twenty-six, Buddenbrooks surpasses all other modern family chronicles in its immensity of scope, richness of detail, and fullness of humanity. With remarkable fidelity to the original German text, this superb translation emphasizes the magnificent scale of Mann’s achievement in this riveting, tragic novel.
As Mann charts the Buddenbrooks’ decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence, and madness, he ushers the reader into a world of stunning vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip, and earthy humor.
First published in Germany in 1901, when Mann was only twenty-six, Buddenbrooks surpasses all other modern family chronicles in its immensity of scope, richness of detail, and fullness of humanity. With remarkable fidelity to the original German text, this superb translation emphasizes the magnificent scale of Mann’s achievement in this riveting, tragic novel.
731 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1901
About the author
Thomas Mann
1,625 books4,454 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
See also:
Serbian: Tomas Man
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate in 1929, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur.
See also:
Serbian: Tomas Man
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate in 1929, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,936 reviews
January 11, 2023
Don’t ask me why, but somehow I had expected this debut novel of Thomas Mann to be as stuffy as my actual copy of the novel, gathering dust on the shelves together with Doctor Faustus for almost fifteen years.
Fortunately, I was wrong. It was far less dusty than the shelf it has been lingering on and than I had expected.
I was impressed with Mann's evocative writing on music and surprised by the subversive role Mann ascribes to art and music.
If some free time would miraculously come my way, I might jot down some more impressions.
Fortunately, I was wrong. It was far less dusty than the shelf it has been lingering on and than I had expected.
I was impressed with Mann's evocative writing on music and surprised by the subversive role Mann ascribes to art and music.
If some free time would miraculously come my way, I might jot down some more impressions.
January 17, 2018
Occasionally, reading and family life interfere with each other!
I have raised my children with the sole dogma that "I read, therefore I am". Being a family, we can't keep from judging each other according to our own specific reading preferences, and we usually believe that "we are what we read". At the moment, my son is reading Buddenbrooks while I am working my way through Brothers Karamazov, and we like to compare notes, especially as both novels are focusing on complicated family patterns - with which we are quite familiar.
My son, frustrated with the character of Grünlich, a true sleazeball and hypocrite, complained that there seems to be a Uriah Heep in each family, thus reigniting a debate on David Copperfield that we had last year. Going on to reflect on the struggles of the different generations of Buddenbrooks to find a balance between individual and collective identity within a patriarchal family structure, he murmured:
"Some things are very much like our family!"
Strong personalities, big dreams, different ideas and clashing worldviews - we came to the conclusion that most families go through the general changes that the Buddenbrooks experienced during the 19th century. We could detect the same power struggles in Dostoevsky and Dickens. So it is not so much that "we are what we read", but rather that "we read what we are". And that is what makes those old-fashioned, long, over-detailed classics shockingly contemporary and relevant to us.
Put a random set of characters into a house, make sure to create a balance of interdependence and delicate power distribution, and you will see them act out dysfunctional family life without needing a script to stick to. Brother One takes a role, which requires Brother Two to act out the antagonist's drama, while Sister One looks for a way out of the dilemma of being raised to obey her family and simultaneously to be proud of herself and her independence. Sister Two will oscillate between different positions to fill the gaps left by the rest of the family. And that is just the horizontal line. Add the vertical lines in the family tree and you are lucky if you manage to tell the story in as many words as Dickens, Dostoevsky or Mann.
Sounds like a dull formula, but it isn't.
After all, that is what we call life, and it's not dull at all. We can all spend a whole day fretting over the fact that a sibling, parent, spouse or child used a certain kind of voice level when saying goodbye, and we can read a whole generation's worth of implications into the wave of a hand. Thomas Mann put down on paper what he had experienced first hand himself, and the very fact that the family is far from unique (on the contrary, quite common) is what makes it appealing to readers of all ages.
Family life turned world literature. World literature turned family competition. Who will finish first? My son with Buddenbrooks, or me with Karamazovs? If you say it doesn't matter, you know nothing of families at all.
I have raised my children with the sole dogma that "I read, therefore I am". Being a family, we can't keep from judging each other according to our own specific reading preferences, and we usually believe that "we are what we read". At the moment, my son is reading Buddenbrooks while I am working my way through Brothers Karamazov, and we like to compare notes, especially as both novels are focusing on complicated family patterns - with which we are quite familiar.
My son, frustrated with the character of Grünlich, a true sleazeball and hypocrite, complained that there seems to be a Uriah Heep in each family, thus reigniting a debate on David Copperfield that we had last year. Going on to reflect on the struggles of the different generations of Buddenbrooks to find a balance between individual and collective identity within a patriarchal family structure, he murmured:
"Some things are very much like our family!"
Strong personalities, big dreams, different ideas and clashing worldviews - we came to the conclusion that most families go through the general changes that the Buddenbrooks experienced during the 19th century. We could detect the same power struggles in Dostoevsky and Dickens. So it is not so much that "we are what we read", but rather that "we read what we are". And that is what makes those old-fashioned, long, over-detailed classics shockingly contemporary and relevant to us.
Put a random set of characters into a house, make sure to create a balance of interdependence and delicate power distribution, and you will see them act out dysfunctional family life without needing a script to stick to. Brother One takes a role, which requires Brother Two to act out the antagonist's drama, while Sister One looks for a way out of the dilemma of being raised to obey her family and simultaneously to be proud of herself and her independence. Sister Two will oscillate between different positions to fill the gaps left by the rest of the family. And that is just the horizontal line. Add the vertical lines in the family tree and you are lucky if you manage to tell the story in as many words as Dickens, Dostoevsky or Mann.
Sounds like a dull formula, but it isn't.
After all, that is what we call life, and it's not dull at all. We can all spend a whole day fretting over the fact that a sibling, parent, spouse or child used a certain kind of voice level when saying goodbye, and we can read a whole generation's worth of implications into the wave of a hand. Thomas Mann put down on paper what he had experienced first hand himself, and the very fact that the family is far from unique (on the contrary, quite common) is what makes it appealing to readers of all ages.
Family life turned world literature. World literature turned family competition. Who will finish first? My son with Buddenbrooks, or me with Karamazovs? If you say it doesn't matter, you know nothing of families at all.
September 22, 2021
(Book 782 from 1001 books) - Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, Thomas Mann
Buddenbrooks is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the years from 1835 to 1877. Mann drew deeply from the history of his own family, the Mann family of Lübeck, and their milieu.
In 1835, the wealthy and respected Buddenbrooks, a family of grain merchants, invite their friends and relatives to dinner in their new home in Lübeck, Germany. The family consists of patriarch Johann Jr. and his wife Antoinette; their son Johann III ("Jean") and his wife Elizabeth, and the latter's three school-age children, sons Thomas and Christian, and daughter Antonie ("Tony").
They have several servants, most notably Ida Jungmann, whose job is to care for the children. During the evening, a letter arrives from Gotthold, estranged son of the elder Johann and half-brother of the younger. The elder Johann disapproves of Gotthold's life choices, and ignores the letter. Johann III and Elizabeth later have another daughter, Klara. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و ششم ژانویه سال 2012میلادی
بودنبروکها (زوال یک خاندان) - توماس مان (ماهی) ادبیات آلمان، 782صفحه
عنوان: بودنبروکها (زوال یک خاندان)؛ نویسنده: توماس مان؛ مترجم: علی اصغر حداد، تهران، ماهی، 1383، در 782ص؛ شابک9647948026؛ چاپ دوم 1385؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
رمان با یک مهمانی خانوادگی آغاز میشود؛ همه هستند، پدربزرگی که بانی ثروت خانواده است، و در زمان جنگ، آذوقه به جنوب برده، پدری نگران همه چیز، دختری جوان و آماده ی ازدواج، و نوهها، که هنوز کودک هستند و بیخیال همه چیز...؛ و البته که پسرها، کسانی که نمایش جنگ قدرت را در خانواده بازی خواهند کرد...؛ مهمانی هست و یک نامه رسیده، از پسری ناخلف، که باز هم پول میخواهد...؛ رمان آقای «مان» ترکیبی از خانواده و زندگی روزمره، و تاریخ کشور «آلمان» است؛
نقل از متن: («توماس بودنبروک» گفت: چه موجهای بلندی؛ ببین چطور در زنجیره ای بیپایان، یکی پس از دیگری، بیهوده و عبث پیش میآیند، و سر به ساحل میکوبند؛ با این همه، مثل هر چیز ساده و ضروری، آرامش بخش �� تسلی دهنده اند؛ در این چند روز من دلبسته ی دریا شده ام؛ شاید به دلیل دوری راه بود، که پیشترها کوهستان را ترجیح میدادم؛ حالا دیگر شوق کوهستان در دلم نیست؛ به گمانم، در کوهستان بترسم و خجل بشوم؛ کوهستان، بیش از اندازه خودکامه و بینظم و متنوع است؛ شک ندارم، که در کوهستان احساس حقارت میکنم (خواهم کرد)؛ راستی، کسانی که یکنواختی دریا را ترجیح میدهند، چه کسانی هستند؟) پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 07/08/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Buddenbrooks is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the years from 1835 to 1877. Mann drew deeply from the history of his own family, the Mann family of Lübeck, and their milieu.
In 1835, the wealthy and respected Buddenbrooks, a family of grain merchants, invite their friends and relatives to dinner in their new home in Lübeck, Germany. The family consists of patriarch Johann Jr. and his wife Antoinette; their son Johann III ("Jean") and his wife Elizabeth, and the latter's three school-age children, sons Thomas and Christian, and daughter Antonie ("Tony").
They have several servants, most notably Ida Jungmann, whose job is to care for the children. During the evening, a letter arrives from Gotthold, estranged son of the elder Johann and half-brother of the younger. The elder Johann disapproves of Gotthold's life choices, and ignores the letter. Johann III and Elizabeth later have another daughter, Klara. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و ششم ژانویه سال 2012میلادی
بودنبروکها (زوال یک خاندان) - توماس مان (ماهی) ادبیات آلمان، 782صفحه
عنوان: بودنبروکها (زوال یک خاندان)؛ نویسنده: توماس مان؛ مترجم: علی اصغر حداد، تهران، ماهی، 1383، در 782ص؛ شابک9647948026؛ چاپ دوم 1385؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
رمان با یک مهمانی خانوادگی آغاز میشود؛ همه هستند، پدربزرگی که بانی ثروت خانواده است، و در زمان جنگ، آذوقه به جنوب برده، پدری نگران همه چیز، دختری جوان و آماده ی ازدواج، و نوهها، که هنوز کودک هستند و بیخیال همه چیز...؛ و البته که پسرها، کسانی که نمایش جنگ قدرت را در خانواده بازی خواهند کرد...؛ مهمانی هست و یک نامه رسیده، از پسری ناخلف، که باز هم پول میخواهد...؛ رمان آقای «مان» ترکیبی از خانواده و زندگی روزمره، و تاریخ کشور «آلمان» است؛
نقل از متن: («توماس بودنبروک» گفت: چه موجهای بلندی؛ ببین چطور در زنجیره ای بیپایان، یکی پس از دیگری، بیهوده و عبث پیش میآیند، و سر به ساحل میکوبند؛ با این همه، مثل هر چیز ساده و ضروری، آرامش بخش �� تسلی دهنده اند؛ در این چند روز من دلبسته ی دریا شده ام؛ شاید به دلیل دوری راه بود، که پیشترها کوهستان را ترجیح میدادم؛ حالا دیگر شوق کوهستان در دلم نیست؛ به گمانم، در کوهستان بترسم و خجل بشوم؛ کوهستان، بیش از اندازه خودکامه و بینظم و متنوع است؛ شک ندارم، که در کوهستان احساس حقارت میکنم (خواهم کرد)؛ راستی، کسانی که یکنواختی دریا را ترجیح میدهند، چه کسانی هستند؟) پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 07/08/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
October 18, 2023
Il mio stato d'animo a lettura ultimata:
Seconda fase:
Terza fase (rivolgendo il mio pensiero a Thomas Buddenbrook, in particolare):
Seconda fase:
Terza fase (rivolgendo il mio pensiero a Thomas Buddenbrook, in particolare):
November 4, 2021
After a whole month of pecking away at this mountainous volume I arrived on page 232 and collapsed. I can’t take it anymore. Thomas Mann starts his story with a dinner party that lasts for forty (40) pages. Things went downhill from there.
NOT MUCH TO SMILE ABOUT
There’s one reasonably good joke in the 230 pages I read. It's 1848 and a crowd of vaguely agitated working men and women have gathered around the council house. One of the beleaguered toffs confronts the mob and asks what exactly is it they want.
“Lord Herr Consul,” said Carl Smolt, somewhat abashed, “Rivolution it has to be. Ther’s revolution iverywheer, in Berlin, in Paris –“
“But, Smolt, what do you want? Just tell me that if you can.”
“Lord Herr Consul, I say we wants a republic; that’s wat I be sayin’-“
“But you fool, you’ve got one already.”
“Well, Herr Consul, then we wants another.”
Sounds slightly like Monty Python but that’s all the mild humour you get in the stone-cold pudding of dreariness that is Buddenbrooks. The only fun to be had is when the pert young daughter gets married off to some grotesque nasty businessman who later goes bankrupt. Yeah, that’s not much to laugh about.
THE ENDLESS PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WEIGHTY NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVEL
Before the movies no one, it would seem, knew what anything looked like. But everyone had an aching need to know every detail of a bourgeois family’s clothes and home furnishings. So Thomas Mann, being aware of this, turns Buddenbrooks into a type of catalogue.
The snow-white cloth of woven damask on the round table had an embroidered green runner across it, laid with gold-bordered porcelain so translucent that it gleamed like mother- of-pearl.
Today she wore her dark red dressing-gown. Its colour toned beautifully with the paper above the wainscoting, and its large-flowered stuff, of a beautiful soft texture, was embroidered all over with sprays of tiny glass beads of the same colour, while row after row of red velvet ribbons ran from neck to hem.
The Frau Consul wore a heavy grey ribbed silk trimmed with black lace, and a cap of lace and stiffened tulle, tied under her chin with a satin bow. The lappets of her cap fell down on her breast. Her smooth hair was still inexorably reddish-blond in colour, and she held a work-bag in both her white delicately veined hands.
The gentlemen are not exempt from this precise itemising.
He was slightly thick-set as to figure, but neither fat nor lean. He wore a black, already somewhat shiny coat, short tight trousers of the same material, and a white waistcoat, over which went a long thin watch-chain and two or three eye-glass cords. His clipped white beard was in sharp contrast with his red face. It covered his cheeks and left his chin and lips free. His mouth was small and mobile, with two yellowish pointed teeth in the otherwise vacant gum of his lower jaw, and he was pressing these into his upper lip, as he stood absently by the door with his hands in his trousers pockets and the black and white down on his head waving slightly, although there was not the least perceptible draught.
When he runs out of characters' clothing to catalogue he starts in on the weather.
After sunset a sultry breath, like a hot blast from an oven, streamed out of the small houses and up from the pavement of the narrow streets. Today the wind had gone round to the west, and at the same time the barometer had fallen sharply. A large part of the sky was still blue, but it was slowly being overcast by heavy grey-blue clouds that looked like feather pillows.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF BUDDENBROOKS
Stodgy mindnumbing detailed description, as above : 37%
Banal conversation : 21%
Slightly more interesting conversation: 5%
Action sequences : 0%
People going in and out of each others’ houses: 19%
Prose that passes from the page to the brain and out again without making any discernible impression : 18%
Buddenbrooks is recommended for those who think that huge ponderous family sagas by Nobel prize-winning authors are by definition good for the soul.
Everyone else may skip this with a light heart and a carefree cartwheel.
NOT MUCH TO SMILE ABOUT
There’s one reasonably good joke in the 230 pages I read. It's 1848 and a crowd of vaguely agitated working men and women have gathered around the council house. One of the beleaguered toffs confronts the mob and asks what exactly is it they want.
“Lord Herr Consul,” said Carl Smolt, somewhat abashed, “Rivolution it has to be. Ther’s revolution iverywheer, in Berlin, in Paris –“
“But, Smolt, what do you want? Just tell me that if you can.”
“Lord Herr Consul, I say we wants a republic; that’s wat I be sayin’-“
“But you fool, you’ve got one already.”
“Well, Herr Consul, then we wants another.”
Sounds slightly like Monty Python but that’s all the mild humour you get in the stone-cold pudding of dreariness that is Buddenbrooks. The only fun to be had is when the pert young daughter gets married off to some grotesque nasty businessman who later goes bankrupt. Yeah, that’s not much to laugh about.
THE ENDLESS PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WEIGHTY NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVEL
Before the movies no one, it would seem, knew what anything looked like. But everyone had an aching need to know every detail of a bourgeois family’s clothes and home furnishings. So Thomas Mann, being aware of this, turns Buddenbrooks into a type of catalogue.
The snow-white cloth of woven damask on the round table had an embroidered green runner across it, laid with gold-bordered porcelain so translucent that it gleamed like mother- of-pearl.
Today she wore her dark red dressing-gown. Its colour toned beautifully with the paper above the wainscoting, and its large-flowered stuff, of a beautiful soft texture, was embroidered all over with sprays of tiny glass beads of the same colour, while row after row of red velvet ribbons ran from neck to hem.
The Frau Consul wore a heavy grey ribbed silk trimmed with black lace, and a cap of lace and stiffened tulle, tied under her chin with a satin bow. The lappets of her cap fell down on her breast. Her smooth hair was still inexorably reddish-blond in colour, and she held a work-bag in both her white delicately veined hands.
The gentlemen are not exempt from this precise itemising.
He was slightly thick-set as to figure, but neither fat nor lean. He wore a black, already somewhat shiny coat, short tight trousers of the same material, and a white waistcoat, over which went a long thin watch-chain and two or three eye-glass cords. His clipped white beard was in sharp contrast with his red face. It covered his cheeks and left his chin and lips free. His mouth was small and mobile, with two yellowish pointed teeth in the otherwise vacant gum of his lower jaw, and he was pressing these into his upper lip, as he stood absently by the door with his hands in his trousers pockets and the black and white down on his head waving slightly, although there was not the least perceptible draught.
When he runs out of characters' clothing to catalogue he starts in on the weather.
After sunset a sultry breath, like a hot blast from an oven, streamed out of the small houses and up from the pavement of the narrow streets. Today the wind had gone round to the west, and at the same time the barometer had fallen sharply. A large part of the sky was still blue, but it was slowly being overcast by heavy grey-blue clouds that looked like feather pillows.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF BUDDENBROOKS
Stodgy mindnumbing detailed description, as above : 37%
Banal conversation : 21%
Slightly more interesting conversation: 5%
Action sequences : 0%
People going in and out of each others’ houses: 19%
Prose that passes from the page to the brain and out again without making any discernible impression : 18%
Buddenbrooks is recommended for those who think that huge ponderous family sagas by Nobel prize-winning authors are by definition good for the soul.
Everyone else may skip this with a light heart and a carefree cartwheel.
May 7, 2023
Accurate to his elegant style, detailed and generous in the petty small details, Thomas Mann returned with this voluminous novel narrating the decline and anguish of a German family of the late nineteenth century.
All the complexes that can live (and suffer) upper-class people when they see themselves with distressing needs are described here, with a halo of nostalgia that surrounds the conversations. Which, more than talks, are reminiscent of a glorious and buoyant past that will not come back.
Tony, daughter of Herr Buddenbrook, says bitterly to his father: "Oh dad, we should never get away from these places, there are a lot of us here. In other places, they would not understand us, and we would suffer because of their gestures, mockery and dishonesty."
Tying to the earth (Lübeck), to what it was and isn't anymore, as unconsciously trying to make everything as it was yesterday, moderates this family's daily experiences.
Like all of Thomas Mann's works, the Buddenbrooks is a picture that mixes sociological with psychic, the old with current, and the beauty of the past with the harsh reality of the present.
A relaxing book read in one afternoon of copious rain without great surprises and sincere moments of meditation.
All the complexes that can live (and suffer) upper-class people when they see themselves with distressing needs are described here, with a halo of nostalgia that surrounds the conversations. Which, more than talks, are reminiscent of a glorious and buoyant past that will not come back.
Tony, daughter of Herr Buddenbrook, says bitterly to his father: "Oh dad, we should never get away from these places, there are a lot of us here. In other places, they would not understand us, and we would suffer because of their gestures, mockery and dishonesty."
Tying to the earth (Lübeck), to what it was and isn't anymore, as unconsciously trying to make everything as it was yesterday, moderates this family's daily experiences.
Like all of Thomas Mann's works, the Buddenbrooks is a picture that mixes sociological with psychic, the old with current, and the beauty of the past with the harsh reality of the present.
A relaxing book read in one afternoon of copious rain without great surprises and sincere moments of meditation.
November 19, 2018
It was actually Boyne's A Ladder to the Sky that made me finally want to read Mann's work (I got so many recommendations from that book!). And I thought this would be an instant favourite-- I do love pretty much all family saga books.
Unfortunately, though, I experienced a real disconnect from the characters and story. Perhaps it's because this was Mann's debut and he falls prey to a number of debut author traps - like getting caught up in his own masturbatory metaphor, for example - but I'm not sure.
The story of the Buddenbrooks is, as the subtitle suggests, about the decline of a wealthy German family during the nineteenth century. It follows multiple generations of Buddenbrooks through their daily minutiae, as well as through marriages and financial struggles. The problem is I felt like I was reading one event after another without any emotional attachment to the characters and what was happening to them.
And I don't think it helps that the novel takes such huge leaps in time, missing out large chunks of the characters' lives.
Yeah, I get that it’s a portrait of what family life was like in this specific time and place, and there’s the whole thing with the tooth decay metaphor… but, you see, I felt like Mann put more feeling into writing about their teeth than into writing about their personalities. After a while, the repetitive metaphor of tooth decay for the decay of a family didn't seem that clever anymore. I guess I'll have to see if The Magic Mountain or Death in Venice are any better.
Though, I must say that this was my absolute favourite moment of the whole book. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but I found it hilarious:
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Unfortunately, though, I experienced a real disconnect from the characters and story. Perhaps it's because this was Mann's debut and he falls prey to a number of debut author traps - like getting caught up in his own masturbatory metaphor, for example - but I'm not sure.
The story of the Buddenbrooks is, as the subtitle suggests, about the decline of a wealthy German family during the nineteenth century. It follows multiple generations of Buddenbrooks through their daily minutiae, as well as through marriages and financial struggles. The problem is I felt like I was reading one event after another without any emotional attachment to the characters and what was happening to them.
And I don't think it helps that the novel takes such huge leaps in time, missing out large chunks of the characters' lives.
Yeah, I get that it’s a portrait of what family life was like in this specific time and place, and there’s the whole thing with the tooth decay metaphor… but, you see, I felt like Mann put more feeling into writing about their teeth than into writing about their personalities. After a while, the repetitive metaphor of tooth decay for the decay of a family didn't seem that clever anymore. I guess I'll have to see if The Magic Mountain or Death in Venice are any better.
Though, I must say that this was my absolute favourite moment of the whole book. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but I found it hilarious:
“Go to the devil, you filthy sprat-eating slut!”
And thus Tony Buddenbrook’s second marriage came to an end.
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September 26, 2020
4,5/5
Un clásico que se ha convertido ya en una de mis sagas familiares preferidas, una lectura nada densa pero sí muy melancólica que deja el corazón un poco roto a pesar de estar repleto de humor e ironía.
Aún siendo un Señor Ladrillo de 900 páginas, es un libro que cuesta soltar y que creo que todos los amantes de las novelas de personajes disfrutarán enormemente, porque pocos libros he leído que describan tantos personajes de manera tan clara, vívida e inolvidable.
La novela está ambientada en una ciudad al norte de Alemania; Lübeck, a finales del siglo XIX y retrata la vida de Los Buddenbrook esta familia de comerciantes ricos y cuyo apellido es sinónimo de poder y prestigio. A lo largo de cuatro generaciones, desde el abuelo Johann al que atisbamos brevemente hasta el pequeño y enterncedor Hanno, vamos a ver una historia de decadencia y cambio, del final de una estirpe, de una manera de entender la vida y del término de una sociedad tal y como la conocemos.
Los verdaderos protagonistas de la historia son Tony y Thomas, hermanos que vamos a ver desde niños hasta el final de sus días y que ocupan la mayor parte de la trama, y así como el inicio del libro y la primera parte (más protagonizada por Tony) es mucho más ligera y optimista, la segunda, protagonizada por su hermano Thomas y su hijo deja un regusto amargo por la tristeza que desprende. He amado profundamente ambos personajes y creo que son de esos que no se me irán nunca de la cabeza...
He disfrutado muchísimo de la lectura, de sus personajes, de la veracidad de sus sentimientos, de sus imperfecciones y lo fácil que resultaba empatizar con todos ellos, me ha encantado descubrir a ese Mann tan analítico pero divertido, un observador de su tiempo y de cada detalle que conforman el carácter de una persona.
En fin, un libro maravilloso aunque triste, en el que se nota esos tintes autobiográficos y la profundidad de los sentimientos del propio autor.
Un clásico que se ha convertido ya en una de mis sagas familiares preferidas, una lectura nada densa pero sí muy melancólica que deja el corazón un poco roto a pesar de estar repleto de humor e ironía.
Aún siendo un Señor Ladrillo de 900 páginas, es un libro que cuesta soltar y que creo que todos los amantes de las novelas de personajes disfrutarán enormemente, porque pocos libros he leído que describan tantos personajes de manera tan clara, vívida e inolvidable.
La novela está ambientada en una ciudad al norte de Alemania; Lübeck, a finales del siglo XIX y retrata la vida de Los Buddenbrook esta familia de comerciantes ricos y cuyo apellido es sinónimo de poder y prestigio. A lo largo de cuatro generaciones, desde el abuelo Johann al que atisbamos brevemente hasta el pequeño y enterncedor Hanno, vamos a ver una historia de decadencia y cambio, del final de una estirpe, de una manera de entender la vida y del término de una sociedad tal y como la conocemos.
Los verdaderos protagonistas de la historia son Tony y Thomas, hermanos que vamos a ver desde niños hasta el final de sus días y que ocupan la mayor parte de la trama, y así como el inicio del libro y la primera parte (más protagonizada por Tony) es mucho más ligera y optimista, la segunda, protagonizada por su hermano Thomas y su hijo deja un regusto amargo por la tristeza que desprende. He amado profundamente ambos personajes y creo que son de esos que no se me irán nunca de la cabeza...
He disfrutado muchísimo de la lectura, de sus personajes, de la veracidad de sus sentimientos, de sus imperfecciones y lo fácil que resultaba empatizar con todos ellos, me ha encantado descubrir a ese Mann tan analítico pero divertido, un observador de su tiempo y de cada detalle que conforman el carácter de una persona.
En fin, un libro maravilloso aunque triste, en el que se nota esos tintes autobiográficos y la profundidad de los sentimientos del propio autor.
June 24, 2013
MEAN REVERSION IS A BITCH...!!!
There is a concept in statistics, Regression or Reversion to the Mean, which is widely used in a variety of fields of knowledge. It was first realized by Sir Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, when he worked on the correlation of heights between adult children and parents.
The concept refers to the tendency for any variable which exhibits an extreme value at any point of measurement to move towards the average next time it is measured.
This mathematical tool is used regularly both in Genetics and in Finance Theory. Consequently, it is an apt model for dealing with the Buddenbrooks and their three Fs: Family, Firm and Fortune, and particularly so because the anchor of the family is precisely that: Trading. Their pride was founded upon the buying and selling of grains, and to do so in the appropriate manner with suitable methods, engaging in the right discipline, performing the relevant calculations, exerting their commercial savvy, and adhering to their code of ethics -- all of these constituted their pride and nature.
The novel begins with the second generation of a family and spans five generations. Their business had, however, one generation less. The book tracks the progression of the Buddenbrooks as a function of their prosperity. The characters and their circumstances are factors that exert a force in the success trend of the family.
In the Buddenbrooks the finances and identity of the firm and family are inseparably intertwined. The family’s expenses are expenses for the firm. And profits from the firm accumulated as capital provide the income and living style of the family. The new Buddenbrooks house, the family symbol with which the novel begins, is a monument to itself. Family and firm reside there.
In addition to the launch of the triumphal house the novel regularly pegs the level at which the Buddenbrooks capital stands. They start off with a mark of 900k Marks and the subsequent levels, which can be plotted, guide us as we follow their successes or hardships. Johann Buddenbrook the Younger begins the apprenticeship of his son Thomas by giving a quick review of the big blocks composing their capital. He understands them well. Later on Tom gives the latest balance to his sister Tony, and although the figure sounds reassuringly high to her, he however adds with concern: “we should be at one million” The Buddenbrook capital has stayed sort of flat, which in any progression of prosperity means trouble. As we approach the end of the novel the family is valued at 650k, amount that will however decrease further as the assets are liquidated inadequately.
So, how does this function of prosperity work? The phenomenon of moving back to the Mean irremediably starts and both Genetics and Trading are players in the game.
Depending on their gender and their primogeniture the various members of family will have to perform a different role. The patriarchs, role reserved for the eldest son, are to be the main motor. When this works, it works, but the problem is that its dependency is concentrated on one individual becoming therefore too risky. We see that even the luck of begetting a male son does not guarantee the survival of the genes of mercantile prosperity. Christian turns out to be a good-for-nothing and therefore neither a support nor a back-up to the elder brother in any of the Buddenbrook responsibilities and activities. He becomes a deviation from the trend and a very strong pull away from excellence. Nor is Hanno a healthy alternative to the mercantile model. The boy inherits the artistic inclinations from his mother, but also the lack of discipline that we saw in his uncle. His musical abilities turn out to be good only for toying around with music, not really for playing or composing. He is not, as Tony hoped, a new Mozart. Surprisingly, Thomas Mann does not present the Arts and Music as Saviours for the Buddenbrooks. No redeeming transformation is generated.
The women and daughters occupy a very particular position. The daughters are detractors of a significant amount of the capital, since significant dowries have to be carved out of the sustaining trunk. These side investments are expected to bring back both prestige and an extended business clout with an overall benefit for the Buddenbrooks. In this family the dowries granted out were almost all utter failures. We know that money seduces swindlers like honey attracts flies. And the Buddenbrooks, both the women and the men, suffer as the victims of the Gründlich hoax and of devout greed. The family’s mercantile acumen was not able to detect the money-hunters. In spite of these failures, however, dowries did net in around 89k Marks thanks to the 300k that Gerda brought along when she married Tom.
But it is the concentration on the different roles that the various family members have to play, according to their gender, which increases the probability of failure. Tony is a convinced Buddenbrooks even if she suffered when she sacrificed her Morten. Could she have offered the business support to her elder brother once it was clear that Christian was not capable? Or could she, or her daughter and grand-daughter, have continued the family firm similarly to the way Donatella Versace has? This is hard to say, since after all it was she who persuaded her brother of the suitability of the Pöppenrader deal. Failure or hailstorm, had she been able to participate or take over the business, the probability of survival would have increased. With this possibility barred, the Pöppenrader misfortune takes place precisely and symbolically when Tom’s grandiose house and the Centennial of the firm are celebrated. It marks the resistance point and the decline clearly begins.
But not all the triggers for the Verfall can be found in the family members. The novel gives loose indications of the historical and economic conditions in which we see this family’s progression. We learn that although Johann the Elder expressed antipathy towards the rising Prussia, he had made a great deal of his profits by selling his grains to the emerging Teutonic Kingdom. And several times the Customs Union is mentioned, although we cannot know in what specific aspects they were detrimental for their business. Revolution comes, entertains, and goes. And the new war between Prussia and Austria remains hazily further south. When Thomas refers to the slow pace at which their benefits are made, signalling a business of narrowing margins, we wonder whether there were other factors that were transforming the business profoundly and which he was not detecting. Although the context is included in the novel, we are left with only a very general idea that the rules of the game must have changed and that these have debunked the Buddenbrooks-way. But the book does not offer further detail.
So, what brought the downfall of the Buddenbrooks? It was a joint result of bad luck, some failed judgment, changing political and economic circumstances, and the determinism of social conventions. But when a reversion to the mean process begins, the causes are not important. What is important is that it happens and that it can hurt.
As the Turkish proverb, that Tom quotes, says: Wenn das Haus fertig ist, kommt der Tod, and so the graphs and statistical laws show.
February 21, 2018
Πρόκειται για ένα αριστούργημα.
Γράφτηκε απο τον Τόμας Μαν όταν ήταν 25 ετών και του έδωσε επάξια το βραβείο Νόμπελ λογοτεχνίας το 1929.
Ακολουθούμε με χαρακτηριστική μεγαλοπρέπεια
το έπος παρακμής μιας χανσεατικής επιτυχημένης οικογένειας.
Η ιστορία των Μπούντενμπρουκ μέσα σε 40 χρόνια, κατά τη διάρκεια ιστορικών και κοινωνικών αλλαγών, σε μια πολύπλοκη απο κάθε άποψη μεταβαλλόμενη Γερμανία.
Απο μια θέση κοινωνικής και οικονομικής εξουσίας
τρεις ή τέσσερις γενιές της οικογένειας ξεπερνιούνται απο τα ίδια τα γεγονότα και κινούνται παραδοσιακά σε μια ασήμαντη πορεία παρωχημένων εποχών.
Η ανικανότητα τους να δράσουν σύμφωνα με την εποχή, ακόμη κι όταν δεν είναι σε θέση να κατανοήσουν τις αλλαγές γύρω τους και στον κόσμο γενικότερα, τους καθιστά ανίσχυρους και τελικά τους ακυρώνει η διάβαση της ιστορίας.
Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τις επαναστατικές εποχές της περιόδου γύρω στα 1848 και μέσα στις εξελίξεις στα χρόνια της ενοποίησης της γερμανικής αυτοκρατορίας (Μπίσμαρκ 1871),οι Μπούντενμπρουκ διατηρούν μια πολεμική άρνηση στο μέλλον που δε συνάδει με την αδιαμφισβήτητη πίστη τους στο παρελθόν.
Το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί καθαρά μια πνευματική πρόκληση για κάθε αναγνώστη.
Ο συγγραφέας κάνει μια απερίγραπτη απεικόνιση των χαρακτήρων και του εξαφανισμένου κόσμου τους.
Με απαράμιλλα στοχαστικό και φιλοσοφικό τρόπο προσθέτει στη γραφή του γλυκιά ειρωνεία, σεμνή μεγαλοπρέπεια και απαλό χιούμορ.
Με τη δεξιοτεχνία του λογοτέχνη που σε στραγγίζει πνευματικά, μα εξίσου αξιοθαύμαστα σου χαρίζει ένα μυστικό ευκολίας ως προς την ανάγνωση και κατανόηση ενός μυθιστορήματος που δημοσιεύτηκε το 1901 και απο τότε χρονολογείται διαχρονικά!!
Με το «μαγικό βουνό» λάτρεψα αυτόν τον μοναδικό συγγραφέα, με τους «Μπούντενμπρουκ» με σημάδεψε ανεξίτηλα με τη σφραγίδα της αριστουργηματικής λογοτεχνίας.
Έχει έναν αξεπέραστο τρόπο να κάνει τους χαρακτήρες σε τούτο το βιβλίο τόσο πραγματικούς όσο και αξέχαστους.
Κι ενώ αρχικά είναι πάρα πολλά τα ονόματα και οι οικογενειακές διακλαδώσεις περιπλόκες,
ο Τόμας Μαν ως γνήσιος ρομαντικός λυτρωτής,
μας αποφυλακίζει απο κάθε δυσκολία με σαφήνεια και κομψότητα.
Μας αποκαλύπτει την ψυχή του με τρομερή ικανότητα να διαχειρίζεται αισθήσεις, συναισθήματα, τόπους, τρόπους και εποχές και τη διαβεβαίωση πως μιλά με τη βιογραφία των δικών του προγόνων.
Ο ρυθμός του χαλαρός, η προσοχή του στη λεπτομέρεια αμέριστη και οι συνδυασμοί γεγονότων και καταστάσεων προσδίδουν λάμψη, μεγαλείο και ζωντάνια που σπάνια συναντάς στην πιο σύγχρονη φανταστική λογοτεχνία.
Η πένα αυτού του διαμετρήματος είναι ικανή για όλα. Αυτός ο αποφυλακιστής του χρόνου γράφει μια απόδραση σε έναν παρελθοντικό διαλογισμό που θα εξακολουθεί να υπάρχει πάντα.
Είναι νόμος πνευματικής ποιότητας απο τον ίδιο τον συγγραφέα να λυπάσαι βαθύτατα όταν φτάνεις στην τελευταία σελίδα απόδρασης.
Παράλληλα με φιλοδοξία και σοφία διδάσκει ή υπενθυμίζει ή διευκρινίζει τους θαυμαστούς νόμους της ανθρώπινης φύσης.
Πραγματεύεται το θέμα της παρακμής με αληθινή έμπνευση που κυριαρχεί αριστοτεχνικά στον έλεγχο της αφήγησης και της γλώσσας που χρησιμοποιεί και στο τέλος δίνει φωνή, ένταση και πάθος σε κάποια μεγάλη μυστική ελπίδα.
Καθώς αρχίζει την αφήγηση του δεν μας αποκαλύπτει το δικό του σκεπτικό, οδηγεί τις εξελίξεις σε μια εκπληκτική κατεύθυνση.
Αντιμετωπίζει την ελπίδα, την απελπισία, το θάρρος
και την αποτυχία της οικογένειας μέσα απο το δικό του υπόβαθρο και περιμετρικά.
Οι χαρακτήρες ελάχιστα αποκαλύπτουν τις σκέψεις τους, όμως ο αναγνώστης κατανοεί, βλέπει και ακούει τους ήρωες καθώς αλληλεπιδρούν μεταξύ τους. Εξαιρετικά επιλεγμένα ή απότομα και αποφασιστικά, σε ένα στενό στάδιο, σε μια γιγαντιαία κλίμακα.
Ένα καταπληκτικό βιβλίο, ένα έργο που του ταιριάζουν οι υψηλότεροι έπαινοι και όλα τα βραβεία της διαχρονικής λογοτεχνικής υπόσχεσης αξιών.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Γλυκούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
Γράφτηκε απο τον Τόμας Μαν όταν ήταν 25 ετών και του έδωσε επάξια το βραβείο Νόμπελ λογοτεχνίας το 1929.
Ακολουθούμε με χαρακτηριστική μεγαλοπρέπεια
το έπος παρακμής μιας χανσεατικής επιτυχημένης οικογένειας.
Η ιστορία των Μπούντενμπρουκ μέσα σε 40 χρόνια, κατά τη διάρκεια ιστορικών και κοινωνικών αλλαγών, σε μια πολύπλοκη απο κάθε άποψη μεταβαλλόμενη Γερμανία.
Απο μια θέση κοινωνικής και οικονομικής εξουσίας
τρεις ή τέσσερις γενιές της οικογένειας ξεπερνιούνται απο τα ίδια τα γεγονότα και κινούνται παραδοσιακά σε μια ασήμαντη πορεία παρωχημένων εποχών.
Η ανικανότητα τους να δράσουν σύμφωνα με την εποχή, ακόμη κι όταν δεν είναι σε θέση να κατανοήσουν τις αλλαγές γύρω τους και στον κόσμο γενικότερα, τους καθιστά ανίσχυρους και τελικά τους ακυρώνει η διάβαση της ιστορίας.
Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τις επαναστατικές εποχές της περιόδου γύρω στα 1848 και μέσα στις εξελίξεις στα χρόνια της ενοποίησης της γερμανικής αυτοκρατορίας (Μπίσμαρκ 1871),οι Μπούντενμπρουκ διατηρούν μια πολεμική άρνηση στο μέλλον που δε συνάδει με την αδιαμφισβήτητη πίστη τους στο παρελθόν.
Το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελεί καθαρά μια πνευματική πρόκληση για κάθε αναγνώστη.
Ο συγγραφέας κάνει μια απερίγραπτη απεικόνιση των χαρακτήρων και του εξαφανισμένου κόσμου τους.
Με απαράμιλλα στοχαστικό και φιλοσοφικό τρόπο προσθέτει στη γραφή του γλυκιά ειρωνεία, σεμνή μεγαλοπρέπεια και απαλό χιούμορ.
Με τη δεξιοτεχνία του λογοτέχνη που σε στραγγίζει πνευματικά, μα εξίσου αξιοθαύμαστα σου χαρίζει ένα μυστικό ευκολίας ως προς την ανάγνωση και κατανόηση ενός μυθιστορήματος που δημοσιεύτηκε το 1901 και απο τότε χρονολογείται διαχρονικά!!
Με το «μαγικό βουνό» λάτρεψα αυτόν τον μοναδικό συγγραφέα, με τους «Μπούντενμπρουκ» με σημάδεψε ανεξίτηλα με τη σφραγίδα της αριστουργηματικής λογοτεχνίας.
Έχει έναν αξεπέραστο τρόπο να κάνει τους χαρακτήρες σε τούτο το βιβλίο τόσο πραγματικούς όσο και αξέχαστους.
Κι ενώ αρχικά είναι πάρα πολλά τα ονόματα και οι οικογενειακές διακλαδώσεις περιπλόκες,
ο Τόμας Μαν ως γνήσιος ρομαντικός λυτρωτής,
μας αποφυλακίζει απο κάθε δυσκολία με σαφήνεια και κομψότητα.
Μας αποκαλύπτει την ψυχή του με τρομερή ικανότητα να διαχειρίζεται αισθήσεις, συναισθήματα, τόπους, τρόπους και εποχές και τη διαβεβαίωση πως μιλά με τη βιογραφία των δικών του προγόνων.
Ο ρυθμός του χαλαρός, η προσοχή του στη λεπτομέρεια αμέριστη και οι συνδυασμοί γεγονότων και καταστάσεων προσδίδουν λάμψη, μεγαλείο και ζωντάνια που σπάνια συναντάς στην πιο σύγχρονη φανταστική λογοτεχνία.
Η πένα αυτού του διαμετρήματος είναι ικανή για όλα. Αυτός ο αποφυλακιστής του χρόνου γράφει μια απόδραση σε έναν παρελθοντικό διαλογισμό που θα εξακολουθεί να υπάρχει πάντα.
Είναι νόμος πνευματικής ποιότητας απο τον ίδιο τον συγγραφέα να λυπάσαι βαθύτατα όταν φτάνεις στην τελευταία σελίδα απόδρασης.
Παράλληλα με φιλοδοξία και σοφία διδάσκει ή υπενθυμίζει ή διευκρινίζει τους θαυμαστούς νόμους της ανθρώπινης φύσης.
Πραγματεύεται το θέμα της παρακμής με αληθινή έμπνευση που κυριαρχεί αριστοτεχνικά στον έλεγχο της αφήγησης και της γλώσσας που χρησιμοποιεί και στο τέλος δίνει φωνή, ένταση και πάθος σε κάποια μεγάλη μυστική ελπίδα.
Καθώς αρχίζει την αφήγηση του δεν μας αποκαλύπτει το δικό του σκεπτικό, οδηγεί τις εξελίξεις σε μια εκπληκτική κατεύθυνση.
Αντιμετωπίζει την ελπίδα, την απελπισία, το θάρρος
και την αποτυχία της οικογένειας μέσα απο το δικό του υπόβαθρο και περιμετρικά.
Οι χαρακτήρες ελάχιστα αποκαλύπτουν τις σκέψεις τους, όμως ο αναγνώστης κατανοεί, βλέπει και ακούει τους ήρωες καθώς αλληλεπιδρούν μεταξύ τους. Εξαιρετικά επιλεγμένα ή απότομα και αποφασιστικά, σε ένα στενό στάδιο, σε μια γιγαντιαία κλίμακα.
Ένα καταπληκτικό βιβλίο, ένα έργο που του ταιριάζουν οι υψηλότεροι έπαινοι και όλα τα βραβεία της διαχρονικής λογοτεχνικής υπόσχεσης αξιών.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Γλυκούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
Read
August 18, 2019Buddenbrooks sat on a high shelf in the back-room of my mind for many years, and though it remained unread it was nevertheless honoured with a prime position; I hoped to read it one day but doubted my own ability to comprehend what I thought must surely be a very difficult text.
I first came across Buddenbrooks among my older sister’s university text books. Her German edition impressed me not only for the mysterious title composed of familiar syllables which the stringing together all in one word rendered solidly impenetrable, but also because of its bulkiness, each page dense, the capitalisedmultisyllabledcompound words tightly packed like a battalion of heavilyarmouredforeignsoldiers. Even in an English translation, I feared I would not be able to separate those syllables and enter the text: Buddenbrooks was a country I would never be able to visit.
Many years pass. My reading life becomes a little more adventurous and one Thursday in May, or is it October (time moves fast in Buddenbrooksland), I find myself seated in the landscape-room of a large house in Lübeck, in the company of little Tony Buddenbrook, her brothers Tom and Christian, her parents, her grandparents, her cousin Clothilde and family friend Sesemi Weichbrodt.
What a surprisingly pleasant visit this has turned out to be, I think, as I settle myself comfortably into the yellow cushions of the sofa, feeling welcome from the very beginning in that bright and elegant house in Meng Street. I am charmed by everyone and everything I meet both within the house and outside; the people, the food, the wine, the furnishings, the entire Buddenbrooks world like a giant bottle of delicious pink champagne all wrapped up in golden tinsel.
But as soon as I've settled myself comfortably into the narrative, I find that ten years have flown swiftly by, their events recounted in little more than summary form. Okay, I think, now that all the back story has been provided, the narrative will get underway properly; Tony is at an interesting age, perhaps she will become the definite focus of this book? Christian too seems to have potential, maybe he will be the vehicle for Mann to develop his themes. Or will it be Tom who becomes the focus, although Tom seems a bit plodding and dull. Or perhaps it will be their little sister, born in a gap between summaries.
But no, I think it is going to be Tony after all because we’re skipping forward in time again and Tony is now a young lady and she is travelling to the seaside at Travemünde. This change of location comes just in time for me, as like her, I was beginning to find life in Meng Street a little claustrophobic. I’m loving the descriptions in this section, the sea, the rocks, the states of mind. There are some fascinating new characters and Tony is growing quite interesting herself. I want her to grow up, to no longer be the schoolgirl who says: “I shall marry a business man. He must have a lot of money, so I can furnish elegantly." Perhaps her life can take a new turn here, away from Lübeck, away from commerce, away from the family. I am excited for her. I see freedom on the horizon, new ideas, new prospects.
Ah hah - I’ve just noticed the subtitle, relegated to the back cover of my edition: The Decline of a Family.
I know now that the story can’t focus exclusively on Tony. In spite of her charming upper lip and her interesting throaty voice, the story has to be about the family, the entire Buddenbrook clan and their common destiny, and the narrative must stay firmly rooted in Lübeck. That means more skipping through time; any periods which the main characters spend away from their home town are reduced to a summary.
And what a surprise, the plodding and prudent Tom emerges as a principal character in so far as there can ever be a principal character in this family saga. He has become interesting too in his own way; I suspect depths which his role in the family don’t allow to be revealed but which nevertheless attract my attention from time to time like a stray piece of tinsel in the bottom of a drawer. It’s as if a little bit of his brother Christian’s effervescence lies hidden behind Tom’s carefully monitored exterior. Christian’s own effervescence is sadly short lived, and his life has been reduced to little more than a broken champagne glass lying in a dusty corner. Tony, in the meantime, has been shattered too but she glues herself back each time because, unlike Christian, she is driven by her astounding reverence for the idea of family, and her particular type of effervescence, less ebullient perhaps than Christian’s, nevertheless lasts longer; her comments, at times courageous, at others, hysterical, punctuate the narrative like the popping of a champagne cork.
Two thirds of the way through the novel, there is a shift in the narrative as well as the location. The glory days in Meng street are over and a new and fascinating character, at least for me, is introduced. Commercial concerns fade into the background and music begins to take a leading role in the story; the reader is treated to a beautiful and elegant coda for this Buddenbrook symphony.
I had begun to really enjoy this section but all too soon, the symphony ended almost on the same note as it had begun: with the fluty tones of the 'little prophetess' and altogether noble character, Sesemi Weichbrodt.
What place will Buddenbrooks occupy in the back-room of my mind now that I’ve read it? A prime position on that high shelf of books I hope to reread? Perhaps not.
I think I will lay it down in the cellar among those dusty, overblown wine bottles which will never be uncorked but which I keep for nostalgic reasons; I won’t be opening Buddenbrooks again.
I first came across Buddenbrooks among my older sister’s university text books. Her German edition impressed me not only for the mysterious title composed of familiar syllables which the stringing together all in one word rendered solidly impenetrable, but also because of its bulkiness, each page dense, the capitalisedmultisyllabledcompound words tightly packed like a battalion of heavilyarmouredforeignsoldiers. Even in an English translation, I feared I would not be able to separate those syllables and enter the text: Buddenbrooks was a country I would never be able to visit.
Many years pass. My reading life becomes a little more adventurous and one Thursday in May, or is it October (time moves fast in Buddenbrooksland), I find myself seated in the landscape-room of a large house in Lübeck, in the company of little Tony Buddenbrook, her brothers Tom and Christian, her parents, her grandparents, her cousin Clothilde and family friend Sesemi Weichbrodt.
What a surprisingly pleasant visit this has turned out to be, I think, as I settle myself comfortably into the yellow cushions of the sofa, feeling welcome from the very beginning in that bright and elegant house in Meng Street. I am charmed by everyone and everything I meet both within the house and outside; the people, the food, the wine, the furnishings, the entire Buddenbrooks world like a giant bottle of delicious pink champagne all wrapped up in golden tinsel.
But as soon as I've settled myself comfortably into the narrative, I find that ten years have flown swiftly by, their events recounted in little more than summary form. Okay, I think, now that all the back story has been provided, the narrative will get underway properly; Tony is at an interesting age, perhaps she will become the definite focus of this book? Christian too seems to have potential, maybe he will be the vehicle for Mann to develop his themes. Or will it be Tom who becomes the focus, although Tom seems a bit plodding and dull. Or perhaps it will be their little sister, born in a gap between summaries.
But no, I think it is going to be Tony after all because we’re skipping forward in time again and Tony is now a young lady and she is travelling to the seaside at Travemünde. This change of location comes just in time for me, as like her, I was beginning to find life in Meng Street a little claustrophobic. I’m loving the descriptions in this section, the sea, the rocks, the states of mind. There are some fascinating new characters and Tony is growing quite interesting herself. I want her to grow up, to no longer be the schoolgirl who says: “I shall marry a business man. He must have a lot of money, so I can furnish elegantly." Perhaps her life can take a new turn here, away from Lübeck, away from commerce, away from the family. I am excited for her. I see freedom on the horizon, new ideas, new prospects.
Ah hah - I’ve just noticed the subtitle, relegated to the back cover of my edition: The Decline of a Family.
I know now that the story can’t focus exclusively on Tony. In spite of her charming upper lip and her interesting throaty voice, the story has to be about the family, the entire Buddenbrook clan and their common destiny, and the narrative must stay firmly rooted in Lübeck. That means more skipping through time; any periods which the main characters spend away from their home town are reduced to a summary.
And what a surprise, the plodding and prudent Tom emerges as a principal character in so far as there can ever be a principal character in this family saga. He has become interesting too in his own way; I suspect depths which his role in the family don’t allow to be revealed but which nevertheless attract my attention from time to time like a stray piece of tinsel in the bottom of a drawer. It’s as if a little bit of his brother Christian’s effervescence lies hidden behind Tom’s carefully monitored exterior. Christian’s own effervescence is sadly short lived, and his life has been reduced to little more than a broken champagne glass lying in a dusty corner. Tony, in the meantime, has been shattered too but she glues herself back each time because, unlike Christian, she is driven by her astounding reverence for the idea of family, and her particular type of effervescence, less ebullient perhaps than Christian’s, nevertheless lasts longer; her comments, at times courageous, at others, hysterical, punctuate the narrative like the popping of a champagne cork.
Two thirds of the way through the novel, there is a shift in the narrative as well as the location. The glory days in Meng street are over and a new and fascinating character, at least for me, is introduced. Commercial concerns fade into the background and music begins to take a leading role in the story; the reader is treated to a beautiful and elegant coda for this Buddenbrook symphony.
I had begun to really enjoy this section but all too soon, the symphony ended almost on the same note as it had begun: with the fluty tones of the 'little prophetess' and altogether noble character, Sesemi Weichbrodt.
What place will Buddenbrooks occupy in the back-room of my mind now that I’ve read it? A prime position on that high shelf of books I hope to reread? Perhaps not.
I think I will lay it down in the cellar among those dusty, overblown wine bottles which will never be uncorked but which I keep for nostalgic reasons; I won’t be opening Buddenbrooks again.
Read
May 15, 2020How could Katia Pringsheim have gone on to marry Thomas Mann if she had ever read his first novel, Buddenbrooks beforehand? The long story of a families multifaceted decline across four generations features mental anguish, bankruptcy, insanity, and no happy marriages.
Thomas Mann's first novel is set among the Lübeck Patrician class of leading merchants who dominated the small city-state. Mann drew heavily upon the family background that he left behind, along with the world of business, to make himself into a writer in Munich instead. There is no such escape for his fictionalised family in Buddenbrooks. For them the pride in their heritage becomes an obligation. A yardstick that serves only to measure the extent of their shortcomings, however Mann's analysis of the families decline is not so straightforward. Contingency is a major factor. They lose out from unexpected bankruptcies, they miss out on opportunities, the currents of the economy change and shift about them, they don't adapt and are slowly left behind “sitting on the rocks” as others, including would be suitor the medical student Morten, steam ahead .
For Thomas Mann as an author the deconstruction of his heritage is a creative act that allows him to reconstruct himself into a novelist. Before Buddenbrooks Thomas had only published short stories and the narrative he produced here is not continuous. Reading it is like admiring a series of Hogarth prints like The Rake's Progress or Marriage a la Mode. Some chapters could be split off and read as a story on their own. There are years between some chapters. The point of view character changes. At one point a chapter consists only of a letter sent from one family member to another. Mann created the novel as a federation of short stories, bound together by common characters, setting, images and the notion of inescapable decline.
The decline of the Buddenbrooks is complex. For one the family fails to nourish. Like poor Klothilde they eat and eat but don't grow sleek. Christian is prematurely aged. Tom worn out. Tony educated to be helpless, she clings to the intellectual highpoint of her life – the conversations she had with the student Morten at the age of sixteen – decades later recommending to her brother to read newspapers that had long ago ceased to be printed. The whole of Fontane's Effi Briest is given over to the story of a woman educated to be a child and married to be a dependant, but Tony's story of a woman searching for a role is an alternative take with an ironic twist is itself just one strand of Buddenbrooks. I prefer the Fontane, but I have to give credit to the scope of Mann's ambition.
Their world is changing around them, they fail to flow with the Zeitgeist. The big politics of 1848 and the wars of unification are in the background. Their world is a shrinking pond. When they venture outside they are at the mercy of bigger fish. Each character in successive generations succeeds in both being a type and true to their time while also being an individual.
This is the book that gave rise to the idea of a 'Buddenbrook syndrome' used to describe the practise of commercial families to withdraw in the second and third generations from business and to put their time and money into leisure activities as well as anticipating (maybe even inspiring) Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in its treatment of the part played by religion in the inner lives of the Buddenbrooks. The neverending oppressive school day that robs little Hanno of vitality would feature again in his brother Heinrich Mann's novels The Blue Angel and Man of Straw.
The concerns with philosophy and music that Mann developed further in The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus here suggest that the decline in the world is balanced by an inner refinement. That the increasing interior richness of their lives renders them unable to compete with their local rivals, the grossly corporeal Hagenstrom family. For all their status inside the city the new Germany is dominated by the old landed aristocracy - something that will be expressed with more brutality and bitterness in Man of Straw by Tom's brother Henrich Mann.
The gloomy, pessimistic story is told with irony, which can keep the characters at arm's length, but then since they tended to fail to achieve connections with spouses and other contemporaries was perhaps just what the author intended. He escaped and transcended his heritage – his characters couldn't.
Thomas Mann's first novel is set among the Lübeck Patrician class of leading merchants who dominated the small city-state. Mann drew heavily upon the family background that he left behind, along with the world of business, to make himself into a writer in Munich instead. There is no such escape for his fictionalised family in Buddenbrooks. For them the pride in their heritage becomes an obligation. A yardstick that serves only to measure the extent of their shortcomings, however Mann's analysis of the families decline is not so straightforward. Contingency is a major factor. They lose out from unexpected bankruptcies, they miss out on opportunities, the currents of the economy change and shift about them, they don't adapt and are slowly left behind “sitting on the rocks” as others, including would be suitor the medical student Morten, steam ahead .
For Thomas Mann as an author the deconstruction of his heritage is a creative act that allows him to reconstruct himself into a novelist. Before Buddenbrooks Thomas had only published short stories and the narrative he produced here is not continuous. Reading it is like admiring a series of Hogarth prints like The Rake's Progress or Marriage a la Mode. Some chapters could be split off and read as a story on their own. There are years between some chapters. The point of view character changes. At one point a chapter consists only of a letter sent from one family member to another. Mann created the novel as a federation of short stories, bound together by common characters, setting, images and the notion of inescapable decline.
The decline of the Buddenbrooks is complex. For one the family fails to nourish. Like poor Klothilde they eat and eat but don't grow sleek. Christian is prematurely aged. Tom worn out. Tony educated to be helpless, she clings to the intellectual highpoint of her life – the conversations she had with the student Morten at the age of sixteen – decades later recommending to her brother to read newspapers that had long ago ceased to be printed. The whole of Fontane's Effi Briest is given over to the story of a woman educated to be a child and married to be a dependant, but Tony's story of a woman searching for a role is an alternative take with an ironic twist is itself just one strand of Buddenbrooks. I prefer the Fontane, but I have to give credit to the scope of Mann's ambition.
Their world is changing around them, they fail to flow with the Zeitgeist. The big politics of 1848 and the wars of unification are in the background. Their world is a shrinking pond. When they venture outside they are at the mercy of bigger fish. Each character in successive generations succeeds in both being a type and true to their time while also being an individual.
This is the book that gave rise to the idea of a 'Buddenbrook syndrome' used to describe the practise of commercial families to withdraw in the second and third generations from business and to put their time and money into leisure activities as well as anticipating (maybe even inspiring) Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in its treatment of the part played by religion in the inner lives of the Buddenbrooks. The neverending oppressive school day that robs little Hanno of vitality would feature again in his brother Heinrich Mann's novels The Blue Angel and Man of Straw.
The concerns with philosophy and music that Mann developed further in The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus here suggest that the decline in the world is balanced by an inner refinement. That the increasing interior richness of their lives renders them unable to compete with their local rivals, the grossly corporeal Hagenstrom family. For all their status inside the city the new Germany is dominated by the old landed aristocracy - something that will be expressed with more brutality and bitterness in Man of Straw by Tom's brother Henrich Mann.
The gloomy, pessimistic story is told with irony, which can keep the characters at arm's length, but then since they tended to fail to achieve connections with spouses and other contemporaries was perhaps just what the author intended. He escaped and transcended his heritage – his characters couldn't.
June 5, 2020
بودنبروک ها زوال یک خاندان کتابی ایست از توماس مان ، نویسنده معروف آلمانی که نحوه زندگی یک خانواده آلمانی در چند نسل برای خواننده با حوصله ، صبر و جزییات فراوان بیان میکند .
داستان زمانی ایست که کشور آلمان هنوز متحد نشده است ، در حقیقت آلمان مجموعه از ایالت های مختلف است اما کتاب هیچ اشاره ای به سیاست یا جنگ های استقلال آلمان با اتریش ، فرانسه و دانمارک نمی کند ، توماس مان سبک زندگی در یک خانواده مرفه آلمان را چنان با جزییات می گوید که خواننده به محض باز کردن کتاب خود را در محیط آلمان آن زمان می یابد ، با خانه های بزرگ ویلایی ، انبوه شمع ها که به مانند لامپ به لوستر ها آویخته شده اند ، خانه های معمولا دو طبقه با پلکان عریض ، تفریحات ملت آلمان در دو قرن پیش ، مهمانی های با شکوه با انبوه نوشیدنی و غذا ، لباس های رسمی و جزییات دیگر همه به وفور در کتاب آورده شده اند و محیط و جامعه آلمان به استادی هر چه تمام به تصویر کشیده شده است .
بودنبروک ها به خوبی نظم و انظباط خشک آلمان را نشان می دهد ، همین طور خشونتی که مثلا در تربیت فرزندان یا در آموزش آنها یا مثلا انعطاف ناپذیری درتجارت ، شاید از این کتاب بتوان کمی ریشه های خشونت نهادینه شده در جامعه آلمان که در سالهای بعد باعث دو جنگ بزرگ و خانمان برانداز در اروپا شد را دریافت .
کتاب قهرمان خاصی ندارد و شخصیت های خاندان بودنبروک به ندرت قوانین سفت وسخت خانواده و جامعه آلمان را می شکنند و به نوعی سنت گرا و پایبند به اصول هستند ، کلام پدر در خانواده های آنها همیشه نفوذ دارد و حرف اول و آخر را او می زند ، خانمهای آلمانی در کتاب بودنبروک ها یا سرگرم نیایش هستند ، یا مهمانی برگذار می کنند ،یا در خانه مشغول گلدوزی یا مطالعه هستند ، اما پس از فوت همسر نقش بسیار مهمی در تنظیم وصیت نامه هم دارند .
پول در ازدواج بسیار مهم است و خانواده ها به خاطر پول و جهیزیه که به شکل نقدی پرداخت می شود به ازدواج رضایت می دهند والبته همان طور که از آلمانی ها انتظار می رود خانواده به وضوح ، و کاملا مستقیم و بدون هر گونه شک و شبهه ای سر مبلغ جهیزیه با هم چانه می زنند . مردان معولا عمر کوتاهی دارند و به خاطر کار زیاد ، استرس و فشار کاری زیاد ،از بیماری جسمی و گرفتاری روحی رنج می برند ، به خاطر سرمای شدید ، سل و ذات الریه بسیار خطرناک و کشنده هستند و پزشکان هم سواد چندانی ندارند ، در کتاب می خوانیم که مثلا کشیدن دندان می تواند باعث مرگ شود .
در آخر تجارتخانه بودنبروک ها به خاطرتغییر شرایط به سمت ورشکستگی می رود و خاندان بودنبروک به خاطر نداشتن فرزند ذکور به سمت انقطاع نسل .( جناب توماس مان هنگامی که چند صفحه به شرح زندگی یکی از افراد خانواده می پردازد معمولا باید به گونه ای انتظار مرگ او را داشت).
سه رمان بسیار عظیم خانواده موسکات ، بودنبروک ها و خانواده تیبو کتابهایی هستند که به شرح نابودی یک خانواده یا یک تمدن بر اثر عوامل خارجی مانند جنگ یا عوامل داخلی می پردازند . به نظر من بودنبروک ها پس از خانواده موسکات در این رده بندی مقام دوم را دارد و به دلیل آشنا کردن خواننده با آلمان و سبک زندگی آن زمان قطعا کتابی ایست بسیار با ارزش و اثرگذار که ارزش خواندن چند باره را هم دارد .
داستان زمانی ایست که کشور آلمان هنوز متحد نشده است ، در حقیقت آلمان مجموعه از ایالت های مختلف است اما کتاب هیچ اشاره ای به سیاست یا جنگ های استقلال آلمان با اتریش ، فرانسه و دانمارک نمی کند ، توماس مان سبک زندگی در یک خانواده مرفه آلمان را چنان با جزییات می گوید که خواننده به محض باز کردن کتاب خود را در محیط آلمان آن زمان می یابد ، با خانه های بزرگ ویلایی ، انبوه شمع ها که به مانند لامپ به لوستر ها آویخته شده اند ، خانه های معمولا دو طبقه با پلکان عریض ، تفریحات ملت آلمان در دو قرن پیش ، مهمانی های با شکوه با انبوه نوشیدنی و غذا ، لباس های رسمی و جزییات دیگر همه به وفور در کتاب آورده شده اند و محیط و جامعه آلمان به استادی هر چه تمام به تصویر کشیده شده است .
بودنبروک ها به خوبی نظم و انظباط خشک آلمان را نشان می دهد ، همین طور خشونتی که مثلا در تربیت فرزندان یا در آموزش آنها یا مثلا انعطاف ناپذیری درتجارت ، شاید از این کتاب بتوان کمی ریشه های خشونت نهادینه شده در جامعه آلمان که در سالهای بعد باعث دو جنگ بزرگ و خانمان برانداز در اروپا شد را دریافت .
کتاب قهرمان خاصی ندارد و شخصیت های خاندان بودنبروک به ندرت قوانین سفت وسخت خانواده و جامعه آلمان را می شکنند و به نوعی سنت گرا و پایبند به اصول هستند ، کلام پدر در خانواده های آنها همیشه نفوذ دارد و حرف اول و آخر را او می زند ، خانمهای آلمانی در کتاب بودنبروک ها یا سرگرم نیایش هستند ، یا مهمانی برگذار می کنند ،یا در خانه مشغول گلدوزی یا مطالعه هستند ، اما پس از فوت همسر نقش بسیار مهمی در تنظیم وصیت نامه هم دارند .
پول در ازدواج بسیار مهم است و خانواده ها به خاطر پول و جهیزیه که به شکل نقدی پرداخت می شود به ازدواج رضایت می دهند والبته همان طور که از آلمانی ها انتظار می رود خانواده به وضوح ، و کاملا مستقیم و بدون هر گونه شک و شبهه ای سر مبلغ جهیزیه با هم چانه می زنند . مردان معولا عمر کوتاهی دارند و به خاطر کار زیاد ، استرس و فشار کاری زیاد ،از بیماری جسمی و گرفتاری روحی رنج می برند ، به خاطر سرمای شدید ، سل و ذات الریه بسیار خطرناک و کشنده هستند و پزشکان هم سواد چندانی ندارند ، در کتاب می خوانیم که مثلا کشیدن دندان می تواند باعث مرگ شود .
در آخر تجارتخانه بودنبروک ها به خاطرتغییر شرایط به سمت ورشکستگی می رود و خاندان بودنبروک به خاطر نداشتن فرزند ذکور به سمت انقطاع نسل .( جناب توماس مان هنگامی که چند صفحه به شرح زندگی یکی از افراد خانواده می پردازد معمولا باید به گونه ای انتظار مرگ او را داشت).
سه رمان بسیار عظیم خانواده موسکات ، بودنبروک ها و خانواده تیبو کتابهایی هستند که به شرح نابودی یک خانواده یا یک تمدن بر اثر عوامل خارجی مانند جنگ یا عوامل داخلی می پردازند . به نظر من بودنبروک ها پس از خانواده موسکات در این رده بندی مقام دوم را دارد و به دلیل آشنا کردن خواننده با آلمان و سبک زندگی آن زمان قطعا کتابی ایست بسیار با ارزش و اثرگذار که ارزش خواندن چند باره را هم دارد .
December 13, 2020
Στα μετρημένα στα δάκτυλα ενός χεριού λογοτεχνικά βιβλία που διάβασα φέτος, το 700 σελίδων έργο του Τόμας Μαν κατέχει την πρώτη θέση, για δύο λόγους. Γιατί το διάβασα απνευστι σε 6 μέρες και γιατί επιβεβαίωσε την πίστη μου στη γερμανόφωνη λογοτεχνία του πρώτου μισού του 20ου αιώνα. Και όταν μιλάμε για γερμανόφωνη λογοτεχνία, δεν μιλάμε μόνο για Γερμανούς· γερμανικά έγραφε και ο Τσβάιχ και ο Ροτ και ο Κάφκα και ο Κανετι, τέκνα της Αυστριακής Αυτοκρατορίας, πριν την κατάρρευση της. Και αυτό είναι μια απόδειξη της kultur και της γλώσσας αυτής στην Κεντρική Ευρώπη, εκείνη την εποχή.
Στα μυθιστορήματα της εποχής αυτής (τέλη - αρχές του 1900) με τις εκατοντάδες σελίδες και την θεματολογία του χρονικού των γενεών του παρελθόντος (όπως οι Τιμπω του Du Gard, και το Πόλεμος και Ειρήνη του Τολστόι) ο Μαν γράφει το 1902 το δικό του χρονικό τριών γενεών της Γερμανικής αστικής τάξης μεταξύ 1835 και 1880. Με αφετηρία την γενέθλια πόλη του το Lübec (την Λυβεκη της Χανσεατικης Ένωσης) και με αφορμή την δική του οικογενειακή ιστορία, ο Μαν καταγραφεί την ζωή των Γερμανών Προτεσταντων Αστών της Ελεύθερης πόλης της Λυβεκης, της εμπορικής αστικής τάξης της, την άνοδο και την πτώση της ομώνυμης οικογένειας με τις αρχές, τις αξίες, με τα οραματα και τις διαψεύσεις της, ως εμπόρων και πολιτών αστών της Γερμανίας πριν την ένωση του 1870.
Χωρίς να χρειαστεί καν να δώσει το ιστορικό πλαίσιο (ελάχιστες ιστορικές αναφορές) και με βλέμμα νοσταλγίας για τα μικρά καθημερινά της οικογενειακής ζωής (σε πολλά σημεία η λεπτομέρεια της οικιακής διακόσμησης, των επίπλων, των συνηθειών και της καθημερινότητας θα κουράσει τον βιαστικό αναγνώστη) ο Μ. καταφέρνει να δώσει ένα μοναδικό χρονογράφημα εποχής και προσώπων, μια ιστορία της ίδιας της καθημερινής ζωής, που όμως δεν πρόκειται να σας κερδίσει, αν δεν το δείτε όπως είναι· ένα νοσταλγικό χρονικό ανθρώπινων χαρακτήρων που η πορεία τους έχει προδιαγραφει πριν καν γεννηθούν και που το τέλος έρχεται σαν ευαγγελική λύτρωση.
Έχετε παρατηρήσει ότι τελικά τα λογοτεχνικά έργα με αυτοβιογραφικες αναφορές είναι τελικά και τα πιο συναρπαστικά σπαρακτικα; Η ίδια η ζωή είναι πιο σκληρή από κάθε φαντασία...
Στα μυθιστορήματα της εποχής αυτής (τέλη - αρχές του 1900) με τις εκατοντάδες σελίδες και την θεματολογία του χρονικού των γενεών του παρελθόντος (όπως οι Τιμπω του Du Gard, και το Πόλεμος και Ειρήνη του Τολστόι) ο Μαν γράφει το 1902 το δικό του χρονικό τριών γενεών της Γερμανικής αστικής τάξης μεταξύ 1835 και 1880. Με αφετηρία την γενέθλια πόλη του το Lübec (την Λυβεκη της Χανσεατικης Ένωσης) και με αφορμή την δική του οικογενειακή ιστορία, ο Μαν καταγραφεί την ζωή των Γερμανών Προτεσταντων Αστών της Ελεύθερης πόλης της Λυβεκης, της εμπορικής αστικής τάξης της, την άνοδο και την πτώση της ομώνυμης οικογένειας με τις αρχές, τις αξίες, με τα οραματα και τις διαψεύσεις της, ως εμπόρων και πολιτών αστών της Γερμανίας πριν την ένωση του 1870.
Χωρίς να χρειαστεί καν να δώσει το ιστορικό πλαίσιο (ελάχιστες ιστορικές αναφορές) και με βλέμμα νοσταλγίας για τα μικρά καθημερινά της οικογενειακής ζωής (σε πολλά σημεία η λεπτομέρεια της οικιακής διακόσμησης, των επίπλων, των συνηθειών και της καθημερινότητας θα κουράσει τον βιαστικό αναγνώστη) ο Μ. καταφέρνει να δώσει ένα μοναδικό χρονογράφημα εποχής και προσώπων, μια ιστορία της ίδιας της καθημερινής ζωής, που όμως δεν πρόκειται να σας κερδίσει, αν δεν το δείτε όπως είναι· ένα νοσταλγικό χρονικό ανθρώπινων χαρακτήρων που η πορεία τους έχει προδιαγραφει πριν καν γεννηθούν και που το τέλος έρχεται σαν ευαγγελική λύτρωση.
Έχετε παρατηρήσει ότι τελικά τα λογοτεχνικά έργα με αυτοβιογραφικες αναφορές είναι τελικά και τα πιο συναρπαστικά σπαρακτικα; Η ίδια η ζωή είναι πιο σκληρή από κάθε φαντασία...
April 4, 2013
Monumentale invidia
Ecco un altro tomazzo che la pimpante Noce ha letto durante il liceo, periodo d’oro ove, per sfuggire a una preoccupante timidezza, faceva incetta di letture classiche. Poi, non avendo nessuno con cui confrontare le sue giovanili impressioni, si dimenticava il tutto nel giro di un annetto. La prima pagina reca la scritta, in bella grafia tonda tondissima, da liceale per niente sui generis “Roma, ‘95”. Il che vuol dire che lo comprai alla Stazione Termini, mentre con la mia classe si aspettava di salire sul treno per Vienna, per una promettente e cazzeggionissima gita scolastica di fine liceo. Di sicuro, lessi il libro al rientro, ché allora non ero mica conciata come adesso, dove il mio ritmo di lettura è imbarazzantemente indietro rispetto all’acquisto compulsivo di materiale cartaceo. Quindi, facendo due calcoli, letto nel ’95, al rientro da una gita di cui non ricordo quasi nulla se non le palle di Mozart e una polverosa ed elegante atmosfera, condensata in architetture secolari di cui non ho saputo godere a pieno, per osmosi non mi dev’essere stato difficile entrare in sintonia con la famiglia Buddenbrook. Sono certa, sempre basandomi su dati storiografici, che avrò anche edith-whartoneggiato un po’, considerando che L’età dell’innocenza di Scorsese era uscito appena un paio d’anni prima, e la festa d’apertura con l’ardita e suggestiva teoria di salotti di casa Beaufort, ricorda molto il fragilissimo equilibrio borghese del sontuoso banchetto inaugurale con cui apre la scena Mann.
L’egoteque giovanile, mi deve quindi aver distratto da un particolare che adesso non posso ignorare e che fa dell’autore tedesco, oggetto eterno della mia ammirazione. Cioè che questa fu la sua prima opera. E non parlo di una di quelle opere meditatissime, che gli autori conservano nel cassetto della scrivania in mezzo a pacchetti di sigarette, pistole ad eventuale usum suicidium, e testamenti poco compiacenti. Opere che dopo lustri di ritocchi e rimaneggiamenti vengono finalmente alla luce, grazie a un editore più sveglio degli altri, e capace di riconoscere il genio latente. No no. Non è il caso del giovane virgulto Mann. Alla stessa età in cui io prendevo il treno per Vienna, e l’unico mal sottile che mi consumava era quello di avere una cuccetta con la mia amichetta del cuore, lui era già redattore di un foglio satirico e già si avviava verso una consapevolezza di sé che io non ho manco ora. All’età di ventidue anni, un’editore importante lo sollecita a scrivere qualcosa di più corposo di qualche raccontino. E Mann cosa fa? Leggero come solo un genio può essere, prima chiede al fratello se vuol fare una cosa a quattro mani, stile Goncourt, poi siccome non se ne fa nulla, si stringe nelle spalle e dice “vabbè, faccio da solo”. Una cosa tipo che io dico a mio padre, ci vieni a far la spesa con me? Non vuoi accompagnarmi? Vabbè dai, vado da sola. E quindi Thomas si mette a scrivere. All’inizio pensa, ma sì, faccio una cosina corta, la storia di una famiglia che decade nell’arco di quattro generazioni, poi si accorge che è un tantino più lunga di quello che aveva previsto. L’editore gli dice, bello di zio, il lettore ti manda a quel paese se si deve cimentare in cose lunghe quanto un rotolone Regina, taglia un po’, da retta a me,ma Thomasino bello punta i piedi, o così o pomì. L’opera viene quindi pubblicata integrale, e dopo un primo tiepido approccio da parte del pubblico lettore, più per una questione di prezzo che di gradimento, fa il botto in edizione economica. Un clamoroso successo. A distanza di quasi un secolo, aggiungerei meritatissimo.
C’è un verso molto famoso di una canzone di Mercede Sosa, che dice “cambia el màs fino brillante, di mano in mano su brillo*”. Mann, di quel verso, si può dire ne abbia fatto una parafrasi, raccontando il processo di opacizzazione di una famiglia, preziosa e fine come un brillante, incastonata tra personaggi diversi ma luminosi come zaffiri, tra una Toni che ricorda i vezzi infantili di una Rossella O’Hara senza la sua saggezza finale, un Christian ipocondriaco e tutto teso in una concentrazione interiore, un Hanno sensibile e quasi catartico, e un Thomas giudizioso e severo, che scopre il segreto dell’esistenza troppo tardi, e come Martin Eden, nel momento in cui seppe, cessò di sapere. Una saga monumentale che a me servirebbero quattro generazioni solo per pensarla, figuriamoci per scriverla. Invece Thomas, fresco fresco, la scrive a ventidue anni, tra Roma, Palestrina e Monaco. Come dire, la gioventù bruciata come fenomeno sociale, ha ancora da venire.
Se volete sapere quanto sia salutare e necessario leggere un classico come questo, per stile, per realismo e per caratterizzazione psicologica, leggete altre recensioni. Io vi dico solo che leggere è un po’ come partire per altri lidi, ma partire è anche un po’ morire. Ecco, se volete morire invidiosi ma soddisfatti, questo è il libro giusto.
*Cambia il brillante più prezioso, di mano in mano il suo splendore.
Ecco un altro tomazzo che la pimpante Noce ha letto durante il liceo, periodo d’oro ove, per sfuggire a una preoccupante timidezza, faceva incetta di letture classiche. Poi, non avendo nessuno con cui confrontare le sue giovanili impressioni, si dimenticava il tutto nel giro di un annetto. La prima pagina reca la scritta, in bella grafia tonda tondissima, da liceale per niente sui generis “Roma, ‘95”. Il che vuol dire che lo comprai alla Stazione Termini, mentre con la mia classe si aspettava di salire sul treno per Vienna, per una promettente e cazzeggionissima gita scolastica di fine liceo. Di sicuro, lessi il libro al rientro, ché allora non ero mica conciata come adesso, dove il mio ritmo di lettura è imbarazzantemente indietro rispetto all’acquisto compulsivo di materiale cartaceo. Quindi, facendo due calcoli, letto nel ’95, al rientro da una gita di cui non ricordo quasi nulla se non le palle di Mozart e una polverosa ed elegante atmosfera, condensata in architetture secolari di cui non ho saputo godere a pieno, per osmosi non mi dev’essere stato difficile entrare in sintonia con la famiglia Buddenbrook. Sono certa, sempre basandomi su dati storiografici, che avrò anche edith-whartoneggiato un po’, considerando che L’età dell’innocenza di Scorsese era uscito appena un paio d’anni prima, e la festa d’apertura con l’ardita e suggestiva teoria di salotti di casa Beaufort, ricorda molto il fragilissimo equilibrio borghese del sontuoso banchetto inaugurale con cui apre la scena Mann.
L’egoteque giovanile, mi deve quindi aver distratto da un particolare che adesso non posso ignorare e che fa dell’autore tedesco, oggetto eterno della mia ammirazione. Cioè che questa fu la sua prima opera. E non parlo di una di quelle opere meditatissime, che gli autori conservano nel cassetto della scrivania in mezzo a pacchetti di sigarette, pistole ad eventuale usum suicidium, e testamenti poco compiacenti. Opere che dopo lustri di ritocchi e rimaneggiamenti vengono finalmente alla luce, grazie a un editore più sveglio degli altri, e capace di riconoscere il genio latente. No no. Non è il caso del giovane virgulto Mann. Alla stessa età in cui io prendevo il treno per Vienna, e l’unico mal sottile che mi consumava era quello di avere una cuccetta con la mia amichetta del cuore, lui era già redattore di un foglio satirico e già si avviava verso una consapevolezza di sé che io non ho manco ora. All’età di ventidue anni, un’editore importante lo sollecita a scrivere qualcosa di più corposo di qualche raccontino. E Mann cosa fa? Leggero come solo un genio può essere, prima chiede al fratello se vuol fare una cosa a quattro mani, stile Goncourt, poi siccome non se ne fa nulla, si stringe nelle spalle e dice “vabbè, faccio da solo”. Una cosa tipo che io dico a mio padre, ci vieni a far la spesa con me? Non vuoi accompagnarmi? Vabbè dai, vado da sola. E quindi Thomas si mette a scrivere. All’inizio pensa, ma sì, faccio una cosina corta, la storia di una famiglia che decade nell’arco di quattro generazioni, poi si accorge che è un tantino più lunga di quello che aveva previsto. L’editore gli dice, bello di zio, il lettore ti manda a quel paese se si deve cimentare in cose lunghe quanto un rotolone Regina, taglia un po’, da retta a me,ma Thomasino bello punta i piedi, o così o pomì. L’opera viene quindi pubblicata integrale, e dopo un primo tiepido approccio da parte del pubblico lettore, più per una questione di prezzo che di gradimento, fa il botto in edizione economica. Un clamoroso successo. A distanza di quasi un secolo, aggiungerei meritatissimo.
C’è un verso molto famoso di una canzone di Mercede Sosa, che dice “cambia el màs fino brillante, di mano in mano su brillo*”. Mann, di quel verso, si può dire ne abbia fatto una parafrasi, raccontando il processo di opacizzazione di una famiglia, preziosa e fine come un brillante, incastonata tra personaggi diversi ma luminosi come zaffiri, tra una Toni che ricorda i vezzi infantili di una Rossella O’Hara senza la sua saggezza finale, un Christian ipocondriaco e tutto teso in una concentrazione interiore, un Hanno sensibile e quasi catartico, e un Thomas giudizioso e severo, che scopre il segreto dell’esistenza troppo tardi, e come Martin Eden, nel momento in cui seppe, cessò di sapere. Una saga monumentale che a me servirebbero quattro generazioni solo per pensarla, figuriamoci per scriverla. Invece Thomas, fresco fresco, la scrive a ventidue anni, tra Roma, Palestrina e Monaco. Come dire, la gioventù bruciata come fenomeno sociale, ha ancora da venire.
Se volete sapere quanto sia salutare e necessario leggere un classico come questo, per stile, per realismo e per caratterizzazione psicologica, leggete altre recensioni. Io vi dico solo che leggere è un po’ come partire per altri lidi, ma partire è anche un po’ morire. Ecco, se volete morire invidiosi ma soddisfatti, questo è il libro giusto.
*Cambia il brillante più prezioso, di mano in mano il suo splendore.
June 25, 2023
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, as the subtitle implies, tells the story of the decline of one influential German family from its height. It is a fine, detailed family saga that marks four generations. Tomas Mann weaves a complete story here starting with the first generation, gradually descending onto the next generations. Mann touches on the first one briefly so as to establish the setting of the story and introduce the main actors of the saga. The next three, he touches in detail. The story is centered naturally on the Buddenbrooks family, so the main actors are the family. And there are only a few other important characters, so it was easy to keep track of this voluminous work. For my part, I most enjoyed the stories of the third generation. I felt that Mann has put more time and effort into giving it a more detailed and psychological portrayal. The characters of Thomas, Antonie, and Christian Buddenbrooks interested me more given their different character traits which Mann has described in detail beautifully.
If one looks into the story, it is more or less filled with the hopes, wishes, ambitions, and everyday life of the Buddenbrooks. The main theme of the story revolves around their family pride and the wish to maintain their status no matter what the cost. And Antonie, being the only woman of the third generation of the Buddenbrooks, naturally becomes the human sacrifice to help maintain the Buddenbrooks status. Antonie, in whom the family pride is instilled at a very young age, is a willing bait. She, like other Buddenbrooks, thinks highly of their family prestige. And although she failed miserably in her share of contribution to the family pride (not only her but her daughter too later on), never for one moment did she forget the status people owed to the Buddenbrooks.
The life stories of Antonie and his siblings, and later on Thomas's son, Hanno, interested me more than others. But overall, though finely written and completely composed, I didn't much care for the storyline which I felt thematically monotonous. However, I truly enjoyed the psychological portrayal of many characters. The character analysis, their thoughts, actions, and eccentricities interested me more than the storyline. In fact, that's what kept me going through to the end. I enjoyed Mann's writing which was precise and beautiful. But unfortunately, the story didn't grab me as it ought to be. It was like a soap opera set up in a different time period. I'm probably in the minority here. But I was rather disappointed after my long wait to read Mann. However, this isn't my end with Mann. His writing attracts me, and I admire his ability to penetrate deeper into human psychologies.
If one looks into the story, it is more or less filled with the hopes, wishes, ambitions, and everyday life of the Buddenbrooks. The main theme of the story revolves around their family pride and the wish to maintain their status no matter what the cost. And Antonie, being the only woman of the third generation of the Buddenbrooks, naturally becomes the human sacrifice to help maintain the Buddenbrooks status. Antonie, in whom the family pride is instilled at a very young age, is a willing bait. She, like other Buddenbrooks, thinks highly of their family prestige. And although she failed miserably in her share of contribution to the family pride (not only her but her daughter too later on), never for one moment did she forget the status people owed to the Buddenbrooks.
The life stories of Antonie and his siblings, and later on Thomas's son, Hanno, interested me more than others. But overall, though finely written and completely composed, I didn't much care for the storyline which I felt thematically monotonous. However, I truly enjoyed the psychological portrayal of many characters. The character analysis, their thoughts, actions, and eccentricities interested me more than the storyline. In fact, that's what kept me going through to the end. I enjoyed Mann's writing which was precise and beautiful. But unfortunately, the story didn't grab me as it ought to be. It was like a soap opera set up in a different time period. I'm probably in the minority here. But I was rather disappointed after my long wait to read Mann. However, this isn't my end with Mann. His writing attracts me, and I admire his ability to penetrate deeper into human psychologies.
April 14, 2017
"The sad thing is that one lives but once—one can't begin life over again. And one would know so much better the second time!"
The family saga of the Buddenbrooks is considered a classic of German literature, a book many people have already heard about, yet never read for a very simple reason... it's loooong. And if you appreciate your books with action and thrilling stuff, then Thomas Mann's novel is not exactly the book you should turn to because it would only disappoint you.
It took me almost three months to fight my way through the novel. I read the original German version, and as a native German speaker, let me tell you something: reading classics in German is much more difficult than reading classics in English. And Thomas Mann certainly knows how to keep his sentences long-winded, letting them run on and on over the course of half a page before finally ending the sentence (if you're lucky). Back in school, my German teacher would have had a mental breakdown if I'd made him read sentences like this in my exams.
Basically, the story of the Buddenbrooks consists of a plot outlined in an exceedingly detailed way, narrated through a lot of different days set in the family members' everyday life, which includes a lot of time jumps. Dealing with their struggles and important events like births, deaths, marriages, divorces and financial businesses, the characters are elaborately established, especially siblings Tony and Thomas, who soon solidify their roles as main protagonists. Both are flawed human beings, are responsible for a lot of mistakes, and have to deal with the deeds they have committed in the past. The story revolves around the development of the main characters, as Thomas Mann allowed readers to follow Tony, Thomas, Christian and other characters from their childhoods to their deaths. Mann did not even attempt to make his characters appear perfect, he attempted - and succeeded - to make them appear realistic. Certain supporting characters lack some attention by the author, but in my opinion, Mann managed to unite plot and character development nearly perfectly.
“Often, the outward and visible material signs and symbols of happiness and success only show themselves when the process of decline has already set in. The outer manifestations take time - like the light of that star up there, which may in reality be already quenched, when it looks to us to be shining its brightest.”
The sentences are laboriously convoluted, sometimes leaving me without any kind of overview on how this sentence may be structured. The writing style is not difficult to read and understand, though - Mann is able to write engaging chapters, using exactly the right lengths and engaging his readers by creating an interesting atmosphere and allowing you to easily imagine the setting in front of your imaginary eye. And there is a certain subtlety about his humor, which I was personally able to enjoy a lot.
If you don't know much about this time period, then Thomas Mann's epic novel about this huge family living and working in Lübeck (a city at the Baltic Sea in Northern Germany, set in a region which I can only recommend visiting) might be quite an interesting reading experience. It's a tedious book, but ultimately, it was absolutely worth the time I spent reading it.
[Review completely rewritten 14 April 2017]
December 30, 2017
My previous experiences of Mann were The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus, both of which were rewarding but challenging.
Buddenbrooks was Mann's first major novel, a thinly veiled account of his own family's rise and fall over the course of the mid nineteenth century. For a book written by a young man who was only 25 when it was published, it is extremely impressive, but it is very much a book of its time, and by modern standards it sometimes seems glacially slow moving, but very atmospheric, and it recreates a lost world in vivid detail.
The story starts in 1835, when its main protagonists are children, and their grandfather Johann is in charge of the trading firm that supports the wealthy Buddenbrook family, merchants and leading lights of Lübeck's ruling class. His two sons are the disinherited Gotthold, who lost favour by marrying against his father's wishes, and Consul Johann, his heir.
The main protagonists are Consul Johann's children - Thomas, who becomes the final head of the family business and Antonie (Tony), whose two disastrous marriages are only brief interludes as she spends most of her life at the heart of the family in Lübeck. In the second half of the book we are introduced to Thomas's son Hanno, who must be at least partly a vehicle to allow Mann to discuss some of the traumatic events of his own childhood (for example the long chapters on the family Christmas and a typically disastrous school day). He is also something of a musical prodigy, which allows Mann to discuss an interest he developed in much greater detail in Doctor Faustus.
This is not a book that will appeal to all modern readers - it does demand a degree of patience, but I found it very readable, and a very enjoyable one to immerse myself in over a holiday period. No doubt I am only scratching the surface of what could be said about it.
Buddenbrooks was Mann's first major novel, a thinly veiled account of his own family's rise and fall over the course of the mid nineteenth century. For a book written by a young man who was only 25 when it was published, it is extremely impressive, but it is very much a book of its time, and by modern standards it sometimes seems glacially slow moving, but very atmospheric, and it recreates a lost world in vivid detail.
The story starts in 1835, when its main protagonists are children, and their grandfather Johann is in charge of the trading firm that supports the wealthy Buddenbrook family, merchants and leading lights of Lübeck's ruling class. His two sons are the disinherited Gotthold, who lost favour by marrying against his father's wishes, and Consul Johann, his heir.
The main protagonists are Consul Johann's children - Thomas, who becomes the final head of the family business and Antonie (Tony), whose two disastrous marriages are only brief interludes as she spends most of her life at the heart of the family in Lübeck. In the second half of the book we are introduced to Thomas's son Hanno, who must be at least partly a vehicle to allow Mann to discuss some of the traumatic events of his own childhood (for example the long chapters on the family Christmas and a typically disastrous school day). He is also something of a musical prodigy, which allows Mann to discuss an interest he developed in much greater detail in Doctor Faustus.
This is not a book that will appeal to all modern readers - it does demand a degree of patience, but I found it very readable, and a very enjoyable one to immerse myself in over a holiday period. No doubt I am only scratching the surface of what could be said about it.
November 6, 2022
Magnifico libro scritto da T. Mann appena venticinquenne. Considerate la bellezza e la profondità di scrittura che lo caratterizzano, non può non sorprendere il lettore.
E' la storia, lungo tre generazione, di una ricca famiglia di commercianti, nella Lubecca borghese e intraprendente dell'autore stesso.
Vari aspetti d'altronde rendono questo romanzo particolarmente immerso nell'humus autobiografico. Il tema stesso del contrastato rapporto fra mentalità borghese e spirito artistico è forse quello più ricorrente nelle opere del grande scrittore. Certo non casualmente.
L'ampia agiatezza conduce la famiglia protagonista ad uno stile brillante e sontuoso. Ma ciò che contraddistingue la vecchia generazione è una sorta di 'innocenza' che le consente di sentirsi in armonia tra attività mercantile ed etica borghese.
Non sarà più così per quella successiva, di più raffinata formazione, nel destreggiarsi fra interessi capitalistici e il bell'ornamento della cultura, vissuta ancora come 'ornamento' o poco più.
Nell'ultima generazione infine, quando arte e vita tenderanno a coincidere, allora dimensione artistica e senso degli affari come potranno essere conciliabili ?
E' la storia, lungo tre generazione, di una ricca famiglia di commercianti, nella Lubecca borghese e intraprendente dell'autore stesso.
Vari aspetti d'altronde rendono questo romanzo particolarmente immerso nell'humus autobiografico. Il tema stesso del contrastato rapporto fra mentalità borghese e spirito artistico è forse quello più ricorrente nelle opere del grande scrittore. Certo non casualmente.
L'ampia agiatezza conduce la famiglia protagonista ad uno stile brillante e sontuoso. Ma ciò che contraddistingue la vecchia generazione è una sorta di 'innocenza' che le consente di sentirsi in armonia tra attività mercantile ed etica borghese.
Non sarà più così per quella successiva, di più raffinata formazione, nel destreggiarsi fra interessi capitalistici e il bell'ornamento della cultura, vissuta ancora come 'ornamento' o poco più.
Nell'ultima generazione infine, quando arte e vita tenderanno a coincidere, allora dimensione artistica e senso degli affari come potranno essere conciliabili ?
November 30, 2019
Δυσκολεύομαι κι εγώ να πιστέψω ότι ο Τόμας Μαν έγραψε αυτό το έργο μέχρι τα 22 - 23 του χρόνια.
Ένα έργο που παρότι έχει αρχίσει και δείχνει την ηλικία του, καταφέρνει - και παρά το μέγεθός του - να μην κουράσει αλλά αντίθετα να καθηλώσει.
Μνημειώδες και κλασικό.
Ένα έργο που παρότι έχει αρχίσει και δείχνει την ηλικία του, καταφέρνει - και παρά το μέγεθός του - να μην κουράσει αλλά αντίθετα να καθηλώσει.
Μνημειώδες και κλασικό.
December 19, 2022
Un imprescindible para los adictos a las sagas familiares decimonónicas. Yo pensaba que sería más denso de leer pero me ha resultado una lectura muy interesante y a menudo divertida. Hay comedia, hay burla, hay un humor fino que no llega a ser sarcástico... pero también hay drama, mucho drama pequeño y grande, a veces rozando el culebrón, para deleite de esta lectora. El Drama con mayúsculas es el de una poderosa familia de industriales que va poco a poco declinando con cada generación, perdiendo fuelle el negocio y también los descendientes, que carecen del empuje y la constitución robusta de los predecesores.
El pesimismo invade a Thomas, el cabeza de familia y protagonista principal de la novela, que es consciente de la decadencia y tiene que luchar contra el desaliento que lo invade:
La absoluta falta de entusiasmo por algo que de verdad le apasionase, el empobrecimiento y la desolación que reinaban en su interior ... unidos a un implacable sentido del deber y a la firme determinación de seguir mostrando la máxima dignidad a cualquier precio, de disimular su debilidad por todos los medios y guardar las 'apariencias', habían trasformado su existencia en eso: en algo artificial, conscientemente forzado, por lo que cualquier palabra, cualquier movimiento, cualquier acción que implicase el más mínimo contacto con otras personas, se convertía en una agotadora e irritante actuación teatral.
Escrita a los 24 años, es una obra maestra y refleja la propia experiencia de Thomas Mann con su entorno familiar y la ciudad de Lübeck. Ello le ocasionó más de un problema, ya que muchos se vieron reflejados en sus páginas.
La última parte se me ha hecho algo más pesada, ya que introduce muchos personajes nuevos al hablar de las experiencias del pequeño Hanno - el heredero de la saga - en la escuela. Los retratos de los profesores y la narración detallada de las clases son hilarantes y seguramente son un retrato fiel de su propia experiencia.
Es una obra concienzuda en sus descripciones, que nos traslada al Lübeck de mediados del siglo diecinueve y nos da un panorama de personas y costumbres que retrata la época. Al mismo tiempo, los personajes individuales están muy bien trazados y llenos de calor humano y emociones.
Racionalidad y emoción se dan la mano en esta obra, que entretiene e ilustra a partes iguales.
El pesimismo invade a Thomas, el cabeza de familia y protagonista principal de la novela, que es consciente de la decadencia y tiene que luchar contra el desaliento que lo invade:
La absoluta falta de entusiasmo por algo que de verdad le apasionase, el empobrecimiento y la desolación que reinaban en su interior ... unidos a un implacable sentido del deber y a la firme determinación de seguir mostrando la máxima dignidad a cualquier precio, de disimular su debilidad por todos los medios y guardar las 'apariencias', habían trasformado su existencia en eso: en algo artificial, conscientemente forzado, por lo que cualquier palabra, cualquier movimiento, cualquier acción que implicase el más mínimo contacto con otras personas, se convertía en una agotadora e irritante actuación teatral.
Escrita a los 24 años, es una obra maestra y refleja la propia experiencia de Thomas Mann con su entorno familiar y la ciudad de Lübeck. Ello le ocasionó más de un problema, ya que muchos se vieron reflejados en sus páginas.
La última parte se me ha hecho algo más pesada, ya que introduce muchos personajes nuevos al hablar de las experiencias del pequeño Hanno - el heredero de la saga - en la escuela. Los retratos de los profesores y la narración detallada de las clases son hilarantes y seguramente son un retrato fiel de su propia experiencia.
Es una obra concienzuda en sus descripciones, que nos traslada al Lübeck de mediados del siglo diecinueve y nos da un panorama de personas y costumbres que retrata la época. Al mismo tiempo, los personajes individuales están muy bien trazados y llenos de calor humano y emociones.
Racionalidad y emoción se dan la mano en esta obra, que entretiene e ilustra a partes iguales.
April 12, 2018
Absolutely excellent, descriptive writing. Writing that pulls the reader in. Characters that are fully developed and totally real. A book with humor. A book with serious topics to consider. A book about life’s ups and downs. Every time the theme changed I was astonished to once again see how this topic and that topic and every topic touched upon had something to say to me. A long book that does not drag.
I loved reading a book set in Germany before either of the world wars! The Revolution of 1948 and the war against Denmark are briefly featured. I enjoyed observing, with humor, cultural differences within the country, how the Prussians view the Bavarians and the Bavarians the Prussians. The setting is primarily Lübeck in the 1800s. Clothing, foods, furniture, beliefs and traditions of the era and place are all picturesquely depicted.
Here is a multi-generational novel where a large number of characters are introduced early in the story and stay around long enough so that the reader comes to know each one intimately. The characters mature yet each remains true to their distinctive personality. There are characters with widely differing traits, but usually there were both good and bad qualities in each individual, and this made each feel real.
Themes? There are so many. Loyalty to one’s family. Sibling relationships – jealousies, competitiveness and innate differences. Family enterprises. Moral standards. The importance of art and music. All of which can be weighed one against the other. Choices must be made.
This is a new audiobook; it came out in October 2016. The narration by David Rintoul is stupendous. When an audiobook is this well read it is impossible not to recommend listening to it rather than reading it. Fantastic intonations for the respective characters. Perfect speed. Perfect pronunciation of French and German dialects. A simply wonderful narration.
This is a classic to be read or preferably listened to.
************************
After a bit more than 1/3:
I am liking this a lot!
Wonderful writing. Very descriptive, but in a good way. You see everything right before your eyes. There is humor. The events pull you in. When terrible things happen, even to people you dislike, you care, you need to know how the problem will be resolved.
It has been ages since I have read such a great multi-generational saga!
David Rintoul reads the new audibook wonderfully.
I loved reading a book set in Germany before either of the world wars! The Revolution of 1948 and the war against Denmark are briefly featured. I enjoyed observing, with humor, cultural differences within the country, how the Prussians view the Bavarians and the Bavarians the Prussians. The setting is primarily Lübeck in the 1800s. Clothing, foods, furniture, beliefs and traditions of the era and place are all picturesquely depicted.
Here is a multi-generational novel where a large number of characters are introduced early in the story and stay around long enough so that the reader comes to know each one intimately. The characters mature yet each remains true to their distinctive personality. There are characters with widely differing traits, but usually there were both good and bad qualities in each individual, and this made each feel real.
Themes? There are so many. Loyalty to one’s family. Sibling relationships – jealousies, competitiveness and innate differences. Family enterprises. Moral standards. The importance of art and music. All of which can be weighed one against the other. Choices must be made.
This is a new audiobook; it came out in October 2016. The narration by David Rintoul is stupendous. When an audiobook is this well read it is impossible not to recommend listening to it rather than reading it. Fantastic intonations for the respective characters. Perfect speed. Perfect pronunciation of French and German dialects. A simply wonderful narration.
This is a classic to be read or preferably listened to.
************************
After a bit more than 1/3:
I am liking this a lot!
Wonderful writing. Very descriptive, but in a good way. You see everything right before your eyes. There is humor. The events pull you in. When terrible things happen, even to people you dislike, you care, you need to know how the problem will be resolved.
It has been ages since I have read such a great multi-generational saga!
David Rintoul reads the new audibook wonderfully.
June 20, 2013
I read a review recently of a historical novel. The reviewer believed that most historical novels fail, because they depict characters with a modern consciousness. These characters often defy the thinking of their times and act in ways that we can approve of. This novel is not historical fiction, but the fact that it was written over a hundred years ago and is full of completely recognisable, very vivid, and obviously historically accurate characters is just one of the things that wowed me about this book, Thomas Mann's first. Sure, the characters do not hold all our values, but they are so like us, in good ways and bad ways, that it reminded me that our lives, in a sense, have been lived before.
And that is humbling. But the book is so well-written, filled with so many beautiful passages, so many extremely clear depictions of important aspects of life. The realisation that all these emotions and situations have occurred before, millions of times, in millions of places, usually without an amazing novelist as witness, isn't even scary (most of the time) because I was just so impressed with Mann's ability to touch on so much. He writes about a specific family during a specific time period but makes it breath-takingly universal. Some characters appear throughout, but there are many viewpoints. Curiously, the novel, though clearly "literary", may even be an early example of a sub genre, the business novel, though I really have no idea how far back that sub genre goes. The Buddenbrooks are merchants, and the business environment, livelihoods, is a lively and interesting element of the novel's setting. The Buddenbrooks' decline and their business savvy is linked. We hear so much about today's changing economy; we ponder the unknowns and calculate, but that too, it is apparent from this novel, is not unique, even though differences between today and yesteryear obviously abound, humans have looked over similar precipices before...
It's an old novel, but I found it very readable and modern. Most chapters are short. A lot of exposition and description are not incorporated within "action", as may be more the norm today, but it was not monotonous or boring. If you want to see examples of lively exposition and lively "telling, not showing" that sparkles, read Buddenbrooks. Mann moved between exposition and scenes without apparent effort, and the scenes are exquisite. I'll try to recall some of them without giving too much away while hinting at their scope: banquets full of innumerable characters, siblings in their twenties playing it cool, young adults at the beach with their whole lives ahead of them, school days, class distinctions at play between various characters in various situations, characters with broken dreams rationalising, broken men at the beach relaxing, going to the dentist, playing music, getting sucked into a philosophy book for the day, shirking responsibilities, facing death, and much, much more.
And that is humbling. But the book is so well-written, filled with so many beautiful passages, so many extremely clear depictions of important aspects of life. The realisation that all these emotions and situations have occurred before, millions of times, in millions of places, usually without an amazing novelist as witness, isn't even scary (most of the time) because I was just so impressed with Mann's ability to touch on so much. He writes about a specific family during a specific time period but makes it breath-takingly universal. Some characters appear throughout, but there are many viewpoints. Curiously, the novel, though clearly "literary", may even be an early example of a sub genre, the business novel, though I really have no idea how far back that sub genre goes. The Buddenbrooks are merchants, and the business environment, livelihoods, is a lively and interesting element of the novel's setting. The Buddenbrooks' decline and their business savvy is linked. We hear so much about today's changing economy; we ponder the unknowns and calculate, but that too, it is apparent from this novel, is not unique, even though differences between today and yesteryear obviously abound, humans have looked over similar precipices before...
It's an old novel, but I found it very readable and modern. Most chapters are short. A lot of exposition and description are not incorporated within "action", as may be more the norm today, but it was not monotonous or boring. If you want to see examples of lively exposition and lively "telling, not showing" that sparkles, read Buddenbrooks. Mann moved between exposition and scenes without apparent effort, and the scenes are exquisite. I'll try to recall some of them without giving too much away while hinting at their scope: banquets full of innumerable characters, siblings in their twenties playing it cool, young adults at the beach with their whole lives ahead of them, school days, class distinctions at play between various characters in various situations, characters with broken dreams rationalising, broken men at the beach relaxing, going to the dentist, playing music, getting sucked into a philosophy book for the day, shirking responsibilities, facing death, and much, much more.
October 21, 2022
امتیاز ۴.۵
کاش دست و دلم میرفت که یه چیزی درباره این بنویسم. شاید بعداً. شاید بعد از پیروزی...
کاش دست و دلم میرفت که یه چیزی درباره این بنویسم. شاید بعداً. شاید بعد از پیروزی...
September 3, 2020
...in fin dei conti, tu non appartieni solo a te stesso
La saga famigliare de “I Buddenbrook” è un meraviglioso ed appassionante romanzo che mi ha fatto scoprire la freschezza di Mann.
Ebbene sì anche lui è stato ragazzo e qui si sente la serenità di una scrittura libera.
Seppur io abbia apprezzato molto “Tonio Krogger” o “Morte a Venezia” (Su “La montagna incantata” non sono ancora salita!) qui ho sentito decisamente lo stacco. I toni anche quando le argomentazioni sono gravi ed importanti hanno comunque un peso specifico non solo sopportabile ma addirittura coinvolgente.
Ci si appassiona alle vicende di questa famiglia forse anche per la nota marca autobiografica che ci rende un po’ lettori- voyeur nei confronti di un autore.
Il milieu è quello di commercianti dove vige l’imperativo dell’accumulo di capitali tanto quanto quello di una strenua difesa della reputazione. E’ un habitat che non consente lunga vita agli spiriti liberi; l’individualità, le proprie aspirazioni sono soppresse in nome della Famiglia e degli Interessi della Ditta.
Pubblicato nel 1901 e quindi quando Mann aveva soli ventisei anni, “I Buddenbrook” palesa dal sottotitolo il racconto di una lenta ma rovinosa caduta sociale ed economica della famiglia protagonista.
L’azione prende l’avvio nel 1835 con una cena di festeggiamento per la casa in cui la famiglia si è appena trasferita. Un’abitazione di grande pregio che rispecchia il successo ormai consolidato.
Ci sono tutti e subito si notano i due fratelli (Thomas e Christian) così opposti già da ragazzini: serietà ed equilibrio vs spiritosaggine e gusto per la leggerezza.
Ogni personaggio è marcato da un segno particolare o un vezzo da renderlo così unico.
Ogni componente della famiglia, tuttavia, è concepito come ingranaggio ( Anelli di una catena ) per una macchina che spesso necessita di manutenzione finchè il tempo la logora e con le nuove generazioni si affacciano prepotenti nuovi valori.
Una società rigidamente stratificata dove la politica è un’eco importante per allontanare il terribile spettro della bancarotta:
”La parola “bancarotta” implicava, tutto ciò che di vago e di spaventoso aveva sentito in quella parola fin da bambina… “bancarotta”… era più atroce della morte, significava disordine, sfacelo, rovina, onta, vergogna, disperazione e miseria… “
Dominus Providebit è l’iscrizione sul frontone della casa e Dio sembra essere l’appiglio più saldo finchè le mani scivolano e la parabola, dopo quarantadue anni, si conclude.
«Ti dirò una cosa» aggiunse dopo una pausa gettando la sigaretta nella stufa attraverso la grata di ferro battuto… «Anch’io ho riflettuto a volte su questo inquieto, vanesio e curioso lavorio su di sé, perché in passato io pure ho avuto questa inclinazione. Ma ho notato che rende irresoluti, inetti e instabili… e per me la capacità di controllo, l’equilibrio, sono la cosa principale.
Ci saranno sempre persone autorizzate a coltivare questo interesse per sé medesime, a esercitare questa osservazione approfondita delle loro proprie sensazioni, poeti in grado di esprimere la loro privilegiata vita interiore con sicurezza e bellezza, arricchendo così il mondo dei sentimenti altrui. Ma noi non siamo che semplici commercianti, bambina mia; le nostre autoanalisi sono disperatamente trascurabili. Possiamo dire tutt’al più che l’accordatura degli strumenti dell’orchestra ci procura uno strano piacere, e che a volte non ci azzardiamo a voler inghiottire… Ah, dobbiamo metterci al lavoro, che diavolo, e combinare qualcosa, come hanno fatto i nostri antenati…»
Grandissima lettura!!
La saga famigliare de “I Buddenbrook” è un meraviglioso ed appassionante romanzo che mi ha fatto scoprire la freschezza di Mann.
Ebbene sì anche lui è stato ragazzo e qui si sente la serenità di una scrittura libera.
Seppur io abbia apprezzato molto “Tonio Krogger” o “Morte a Venezia” (Su “La montagna incantata” non sono ancora salita!) qui ho sentito decisamente lo stacco. I toni anche quando le argomentazioni sono gravi ed importanti hanno comunque un peso specifico non solo sopportabile ma addirittura coinvolgente.
Ci si appassiona alle vicende di questa famiglia forse anche per la nota marca autobiografica che ci rende un po’ lettori- voyeur nei confronti di un autore.
Il milieu è quello di commercianti dove vige l’imperativo dell’accumulo di capitali tanto quanto quello di una strenua difesa della reputazione. E’ un habitat che non consente lunga vita agli spiriti liberi; l’individualità, le proprie aspirazioni sono soppresse in nome della Famiglia e degli Interessi della Ditta.
Pubblicato nel 1901 e quindi quando Mann aveva soli ventisei anni, “I Buddenbrook” palesa dal sottotitolo il racconto di una lenta ma rovinosa caduta sociale ed economica della famiglia protagonista.
L’azione prende l’avvio nel 1835 con una cena di festeggiamento per la casa in cui la famiglia si è appena trasferita. Un’abitazione di grande pregio che rispecchia il successo ormai consolidato.
Ci sono tutti e subito si notano i due fratelli (Thomas e Christian) così opposti già da ragazzini: serietà ed equilibrio vs spiritosaggine e gusto per la leggerezza.
Ogni personaggio è marcato da un segno particolare o un vezzo da renderlo così unico.
Ogni componente della famiglia, tuttavia, è concepito come ingranaggio ( Anelli di una catena ) per una macchina che spesso necessita di manutenzione finchè il tempo la logora e con le nuove generazioni si affacciano prepotenti nuovi valori.
Una società rigidamente stratificata dove la politica è un’eco importante per allontanare il terribile spettro della bancarotta:
”La parola “bancarotta” implicava, tutto ciò che di vago e di spaventoso aveva sentito in quella parola fin da bambina… “bancarotta”… era più atroce della morte, significava disordine, sfacelo, rovina, onta, vergogna, disperazione e miseria… “
Dominus Providebit è l’iscrizione sul frontone della casa e Dio sembra essere l’appiglio più saldo finchè le mani scivolano e la parabola, dopo quarantadue anni, si conclude.
«Ti dirò una cosa» aggiunse dopo una pausa gettando la sigaretta nella stufa attraverso la grata di ferro battuto… «Anch’io ho riflettuto a volte su questo inquieto, vanesio e curioso lavorio su di sé, perché in passato io pure ho avuto questa inclinazione. Ma ho notato che rende irresoluti, inetti e instabili… e per me la capacità di controllo, l’equilibrio, sono la cosa principale.
Ci saranno sempre persone autorizzate a coltivare questo interesse per sé medesime, a esercitare questa osservazione approfondita delle loro proprie sensazioni, poeti in grado di esprimere la loro privilegiata vita interiore con sicurezza e bellezza, arricchendo così il mondo dei sentimenti altrui. Ma noi non siamo che semplici commercianti, bambina mia; le nostre autoanalisi sono disperatamente trascurabili. Possiamo dire tutt’al più che l’accordatura degli strumenti dell’orchestra ci procura uno strano piacere, e che a volte non ci azzardiamo a voler inghiottire… Ah, dobbiamo metterci al lavoro, che diavolo, e combinare qualcosa, come hanno fatto i nostri antenati…»
Grandissima lettura!!
December 20, 2023
گرونلیش از تونی بودنبروک خواستگاری میکند. پاسخِ دوشیزه جوان منفی است و آن را بدون اینکه نیازی به فکر کردن داشته باشد، اعلام میکند. تونی در همان دیدار اول گرونلیش را جوان سبک مغز و خودشیرینی یافته بود. پاسخ منفی تونی به این بازرگان هامبورگی به مذاق پدر و مادرش خوش نمیآید و والدینش تلاش میکنند با اتکا بر حرمت پدر و مادری و تجربهشان رای دختر نوجوانشان را تغییر دهند. به زمان دل میبندند تا تونی سرانجام نرم شود اما چنین نمیشود. کشیش با هماهنگی از پیش تعیین شده در کلیسا در خطابهای تند و تیز به جوانهایی که سخن والدین خود را گوش نمیدهند، میتازد و سزای آن گناهکاران را تنبیهی تند از جانب مسیح میداند. این حربه هم کارساز نمیشود و نتیجه عکس میدهد. تونی یکشنبهی بعد به کلیسا نمی رود.
افسردگی تونی سبب شد تا پدر و مادرش (یوهان و الیزابت) شیوه خود را تغییر دهند و راه دیگری برای سر عقل آمدن تونی بیازمایند. یوهان به تونی پیشنهاد میدهد تا تعطیلات تابستانی را نزد خانواده ناخدا شوارتسکف (دوستِ یوهان) بگذراند. تونی که از ماجرای خواستگاری گرونلیش خسته شده است، از پیشنهاد استقبال میکند. تونی در روز اول سکونت، با مورتن پسر ناخدا آشنا میشود. مورتن برخورد گرم و محترمانهای دارد اما با طبقه اشراف که تونی هم از آن میآید، مخالفت جدی دارد. مورتن دانشجوی پزشکی است و روزنامههایی همچون راینیشه ساتیونگ – کارل مارکس سردبیر روزنامه در سال 1842 بود – میخواند. تفکرات و عقاید مورتن برای تونی که در ناز و نعمت رشد کرده است، کمی غریب و عجیب است، با اینحال مورتن به دلِ تونی مینشیند. وقتی تونی میخواهد به سراغ دوستان همسنخ و همطبقهاش برود، مورتن با او خداحافظی میکند و آن پشت روی سنگها مینشیند. گذر روزها دل و فکر آنها را به هم نزدیکتر کرد و سرانجام روزی در ساحل، مورتن با بوسهای محجوبانه، لبِ تونی را گرم میکند و به هم دل میبازند. خوشیشان همچون بوسه نخستین کوتاه است و طوفان از راه میرسد.
گرونلیش نامهای به خانه شوارتسکف ارسال میکند و در آن از بیصبریاش برای شنیدن جواب مثبت میگوید و همراه نامه انگشتری را ضمیمه میکند. تونیِ عصبانی در عوض گرونلیش، به پدرش نامه مینویسد و ضمن پس فرستادن هدیه گرانبها، پدر را از راز خود آگاه میکند. نامه ارسالی یوهان بودنبروک مطابق انتظار با اعتراض و عتاب است و سرانجام حضور سرزده گرونلیش در خانه شوارتسکف تیر خلاصی را بر پیکر رابطه نحیف و نوپای مورتن – تونی وارد میکند.
گرونلیش در ملاقات با ناخدا، به دروغ عنوان میکند که تونی به او قول ازدواج داده است و از پسرِ ناخدا بابت تجاوز به حقوقش شکایت میکند. پدر تند مزاج به پسرش میتوپد و او را رهسپار دانشگاه میکند. تونی هم چند روز بعد راهی خانه میشود. تونی که با همراهی توماس به تعطیلات آمده بود، با کالسکه توماس به خانه برمی گردد. تونی در راه با به یادآوری جمله مورتن که به او گفته بود "امروز هر دو ناچاریم روی سنگها بنشینیم" به گریه میافتد. توماس در نصیحتی محافظهکارانه، خواهرش را به فراموشی فرامیخواند اما پاسخ تونی کوتاه است و کوبنده.
"فراموش کردن هم شد تسلا!
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و در جای دیگر از رمان اینطور می خوانیم :
افسری که به تنهایی به گردش می رود، نه از اسب و شکار لذت می برد و نه از زن و قمار
افسردگی تونی سبب شد تا پدر و مادرش (یوهان و الیزابت) شیوه خود را تغییر دهند و راه دیگری برای سر عقل آمدن تونی بیازمایند. یوهان به تونی پیشنهاد میدهد تا تعطیلات تابستانی را نزد خانواده ناخدا شوارتسکف (دوستِ یوهان) بگذراند. تونی که از ماجرای خواستگاری گرونلیش خسته شده است، از پیشنهاد استقبال میکند. تونی در روز اول سکونت، با مورتن پسر ناخدا آشنا میشود. مورتن برخورد گرم و محترمانهای دارد اما با طبقه اشراف که تونی هم از آن میآید، مخالفت جدی دارد. مورتن دانشجوی پزشکی است و روزنامههایی همچون راینیشه ساتیونگ – کارل مارکس سردبیر روزنامه در سال 1842 بود – میخواند. تفکرات و عقاید مورتن برای تونی که در ناز و نعمت رشد کرده است، کمی غریب و عجیب است، با اینحال مورتن به دلِ تونی مینشیند. وقتی تونی میخواهد به سراغ دوستان همسنخ و همطبقهاش برود، مورتن با او خداحافظی میکند و آن پشت روی سنگها مینشیند. گذر روزها دل و فکر آنها را به هم نزدیکتر کرد و سرانجام روزی در ساحل، مورتن با بوسهای محجوبانه، لبِ تونی را گرم میکند و به هم دل میبازند. خوشیشان همچون بوسه نخستین کوتاه است و طوفان از راه میرسد.
گرونلیش نامهای به خانه شوارتسکف ارسال میکند و در آن از بیصبریاش برای شنیدن جواب مثبت میگوید و همراه نامه انگشتری را ضمیمه میکند. تونیِ عصبانی در عوض گرونلیش، به پدرش نامه مینویسد و ضمن پس فرستادن هدیه گرانبها، پدر را از راز خود آگاه میکند. نامه ارسالی یوهان بودنبروک مطابق انتظار با اعتراض و عتاب است و سرانجام حضور سرزده گرونلیش در خانه شوارتسکف تیر خلاصی را بر پیکر رابطه نحیف و نوپای مورتن – تونی وارد میکند.
گرونلیش در ملاقات با ناخدا، به دروغ عنوان میکند که تونی به او قول ازدواج داده است و از پسرِ ناخدا بابت تجاوز به حقوقش شکایت میکند. پدر تند مزاج به پسرش میتوپد و او را رهسپار دانشگاه میکند. تونی هم چند روز بعد راهی خانه میشود. تونی که با همراهی توماس به تعطیلات آمده بود، با کالسکه توماس به خانه برمی گردد. تونی در راه با به یادآوری جمله مورتن که به او گفته بود "امروز هر دو ناچاریم روی سنگها بنشینیم" به گریه میافتد. توماس در نصیحتی محافظهکارانه، خواهرش را به فراموشی فرامیخواند اما پاسخ تونی کوتاه است و کوبنده.
"فراموش کردن هم شد تسلا!
-------------
و در جای دیگر از رمان اینطور می خوانیم :
افسری که به تنهایی به گردش می رود، نه از اسب و شکار لذت می برد و نه از زن و قمار
January 20, 2018
An excellence that has stayed with me since my high school days.
September 12, 2021
The first thing I felt after closing what is without doubt one of the best novels I will ever read was an almost irrepressible urge to start writing "Klothilde: The Rise of an Independent Woman” which describes the intense mental conflict experienced by Klothilde Buddenbrook as she tries to outwardly conform to the expectations of nineteenth century German womanhood while also pursuing an intense but tragically doomed affair with Hermann Hangstrom, tells the story of her attempts at revenge against her privileged relatives as the underground leader of the futile 1848 revolt and of how Klothilde's lifelong devotion to the tantric arts allowed her to maintain a perfectly slim figure despite her voracious appetite for food, love and mystic communion with God
Is Thomas Mann fan fiction a thing? I have to know.
Is Thomas Mann fan fiction a thing? I have to know.
July 27, 2021
يقول الكاتب البيروي ماريو فارغاس يوسا:
"إن الأدب لهو تمثيل مغشوش للحياة، يساعدنا مع ذلك على الاهتداء في المتاهة التي ولدنا فيها، التي نعبر، وحيث سنموت. هي تعوضنا عن خسائر وإحباطات نُمنَى بها في الحياة الحقيقية، وبفضلها نفكك، جزئيا على الأقل، الهيروغليفيا التي هي بمثابة الوجود بالنسبة لغالبية البشر، خاصة نحن، الذين نمتلئ بالشكوك أكثر من اليقين، ونعلن ارتباكنا إزاء مواضيع كالتعالي، والمصير الفردي والجماعي، والروح، والمعنى ولا معنى التاريخ، والعقلانية."
لم تُبارِح بالي تلك الفقرة طيلة قراءة ملحمة انهيار آل بودنبروك، ففي كثير من الأحيان ننظر إلى عوالم الأدب كأنها برجٌ مُترفِّع يتأمل الكُتَّابُ فيها مصائر وحيوات الناس الواقعية من علٍ غير آبهين بحقيقة الآلام التي نكابدها، وإن تضمنتْ حكاياتهم بعض المآسي المُشابهة للحياة، نعرج عليها بوصفها محطات نُسِجتْ في محاكاة ساخرة، هذه الشاعرية التي تُعالَج بها ذواتنا بين صفحات أعمال عدة تُثير استفزازنا وتساؤلاتنا حول ماهية الحياة الروائية، من أين يستقي الكاتب عناصر حكايته كي تُؤخذ الحياة بتلك السهولة؟
ثم تأتي استثناءات تُحصَى على اليد، تُعلن عن نفسها بلا أية كُلفة، بل تفتح الكتاب وأنت تخوض رحلةً شبيهة برحلتك أنت في الحياة، وإن كانت رحلتُك لم تبدأْ بعد، فلا بأس، ففي تلك الاستثناءات ستجد نفسك وستجد خط حياتك التائه عنك، بل ستجد بعض المحاذير التي تفيقكَ في قسوة كي تنتبه للآتي، تضع خطوة ثم ترقب في وجل مصائر الشخوص، كما لو كانوا عائلتك، تتفهم جيدًا كل معنى من المعاني التي نُجمِل وصفها بمعزل عن التجربة العيانية، تذوق عذاب الحب المُستعذَب ثم تتكبد الخسارة المالية بعد ارتقائك أعلى درجات الثراء، تجحظ عيناك أمام خيانات الأقربين بأيدٍ عاجزة.
إن مفارقة هذه الرواية تُمضُّ قلبي، فلم أرَها كلمات مكتوبة، وأكابد جهدًا فوق طاقتي للكتابة عنها كما أكتب عن أي كتاب، توغلَّتُ في عوالمها الجديدة عليّ كل الجدَّة، وعايشتُ أشد تفاصيلهم حميمية، كأنّها حكاياتي الشخصية، فكيف لي أن أُقيَّم حكاياتي؟
لا أعتبر نفسي ضليعةً في عوالم السينما ولكنّي شُغفتُ بأعمال مخرج هونج كونج الشهير ونج كار واي، لأسباب كثيرة، ولكنّ محور هذا الاهتمام المتزايد تجاه كل تحفه السينمائية، أنني أعايش شخصياته وألتحم معها، أنسى الكاميرا والعناصر الفاصلة بيننا، وأتحرك معهم في بيوتهم، أتألم في قصص حبهم، تخطفني عنايته بكل الحيثيات المُؤثرة في حكاياتهم، الساعات، الأزياء، الشوارع الماطرة وكل عنصر صغير قد يزيد من واقعية المشهد.
ولكنّي لم أتوقع يومًا أن أُعاين شعورًا مماثلًا في رواية، رواية ألمانية كُتِبتْ في مطلع القرن العشرين على يد كاتب شاب عشريني يَخطُّ أول أعماله مُستوحيًا قصة عائلته في مدينة لوبك بشمال ألمانيا، يُدعى توماس مان، ثم عقب انتهائه منها، يتلقَّى جائزة نوبل ولم يُكملْ السادسة والعشرين، يُدِير بين يديه مآسي أربعة أجيال من آل بودنبروك، عائلة برجوازية نشأت منذ عهد سحيق بين طبقة التُجَّار واسعي الثراء، المُتطلعة عيونهم إلى عالم النبلاء، خائفين في كل خطوات حياتهم أن تنزلق أقدامهم ويقعوا فريسة للطبقات الأقل، هذه الطبقة التي نشأت في بدايات القرنين الخامس والسادس عشر، تعيش على جهد العمال، تسيطر على المجتمع الرأسمالي، طبقة غير منتجة تُسيطر على المجتمع والهيئات الحاكمة للحفاظ على مصالحها.
إن الشروحات الاقتصادية حول نشأة وتاريخ هذه الطبقة تفيض بها كتب الاقتصاد وقد أفاض المذهب الاشتراكي في بيان الأمراض التي تنشرها تلك الطبقة، بيدَ أنَّ عمل توماس مان يتناول أسرةً محورية تنتمي إلى أصول هذه الطبقة، تتغذَّى بدءًا من الجد يوهان وصولًا إلى توماس بودنبروك على تغذية رأس المال، وتضخيم العائدات للزيادة في بهرجة وثراء المستوى الاجتماعي والاقتصادي، أربعة أجيال تبدأ من الجد الأكبر في أول مشهد من الرواية وتنتهي بيوهان الأصغر في شارع حارة السماكين، تتعاقب دورات الأجيال بين شخصيات كثيرة، شخصيات محورية كانت دعامةً أساسيةً في ثنايا العمل، ثم الشخصيات الثانوية التي لم تلبث أن كشفتْ المزيد عن قدرات توماس مان الحكائية، ولكنّ لي وققة عند العلاقة الأهم والألفتْ للنظر على الإطلاق، علاقة توماس وأخته توني.
إن توماس وتوني لم يكونا علاقةَ أُخوَّة من السهل التوقع أبعادها، فكل شخصيةٍ منهما كانت على طرف النقيض كليةً، لكنّ الوشيجة الرئيسة بينهما كانت تجعلهما لا يتحركان في تلك الحياة بدون الآخر، كانت توني شخصيةً حائرة، تريد كل شيء بلا طمع أو شره دنيوي، تفكر في العائلة برغبة أمينة في تقوية الشمل ولم كل العناصر البعيدة، بذلت التضحيات الكثيرة كي تكون القطب الجامع لكل حائر متردد في الأسرة، توجه النصح والإرشاد لأخيها الأكبر، تلتفت إلى عناصر الوجاهة في انشداه غير طبيعي، ولكنها لا تنسى نزعاتها الدينية رغم كرهها للكثلكة السائدة في بيت أمها، أو الآباء البروستانت المزعجين، فكاهتها المثيرة ملأتْ أجواء الحكاية بكل عفوية ممكنة، وقعت في غرامها وسمعتُ أصوات بكائها في كل مصائب الحياة التي لم ترحمها، كانت فتاة تُصارع بين العاطفة والقوة وإيثار مجد أخيها والأسرة، لم تستطع قطُّ أن ترسم لنفسها عالمًا غير العالم التي كانت تجلس فيها لتكتب في دفتر الأسرة كل الوقائع والأحداث، فكانت تُؤرِّخ وترقب في هلع انهيار إرثها الأسري.
ولكن توماس! الشخصية الأهم على الإطلاق في أي عمل درامي، لا أستبعد احتمالية أن تكون شخصية مايكل كورليوني في عرَّاب بوزو قد اُستُلهمتْ منها، شخ��ية كابدتْ الكثير كي تحافظ على عمل الجد والوالد، هو من الجيل الثالث الذي خطى تلك الحياة كي يأخذها عَنوةً، لا أتهمه بالقسوة، ولكن بالتأكيد كان توماس يؤمن بالنجاح ويكره كل عامل فاسد قد يُعرقِل هذا النجاح، شخصية رُسمتْ بعبقرية روائية تجعل كل الأعمال المقروءة من قبل عن هذا النوع من الشخصيات المحورية لا تملك شروى نقير أمام براعة توماس مان في تحديد تطورات وانهيارات توماس مان، الرجل المبدوه بكل أنواع الثراء، يحافظ على مظهره الساطع في هوس مرضيّ، فأظهره لنا توماس مان من خلال وسواسه القهري للحفاظ على كل استقامة في مظهره الخارجي وعنايته الغريبة بملابسه ورائحته، ثم خوفه من تضييع الأموال فيتخلى عن أي مصاريف قد تُعيق هذا الثراء، تطول عنقه لمحاولة الوصول إلى مستوى النبلاء، لكن جدار الواقع يطيح به في قسوة، فيُسارع إلى البيوت والملابس والزوجة الجميلة والمعالم التي ترسم أملًا له للوصول إلى بغيته المنشودة، وفي غمرة كل هذا، يُعالج كل علاقاته ببرود وتوحش لا يعرف الرحمة.
إن الوقوف على الجوانب التي أخرَجتْ هذه الملحمة، قد يطول بنا إلى مؤلفات ودراسات، والإحاطة بكل موقف شعرتُ في غماره برغبة الدخول مع الشخصيات، أمرٌ مستحيل، فلغة توماس مان لم تقف عند وصف المشاعر فقط، بل وصفت لنا المنازل، الموائد، الحفلات، شواطئ البحر وكل البيئات التي تركتْ أثرًا في معالجة الرواية، وهذا يُذكّرني بالحديث عن العمل العربي الشبيه بالملحمة الألمانية، ثلاثية القاهرة لنجيب محفوظ، فلا أنكر التشابه الزاعق بين العملين، وعديد من الشخصيات قد نُحتتْ في ظلال شخصيات توماس مان، بل إن اختيار الطبقة الاجتماعية كان لافتًا للنظر، طبقة التجار وما يُقاسوه للحفاظ على مستواهم، وبعض المشاهد بينهما لا أنكر أنها استوقفتني، ولكنّ الاعتراف بالطابع المصري لثلاثية نجيب يفرض نفسه، فلم تتماهَ العناصر كلها في تطابق أعمى، قد تكون ملحمة توماس مان قد أثارت رغبة نجيب محفوظ، ولكن الفرق في معالجة البيئة المصرية ومصير بعض الشخوض والنهاية، وضع حدًّا لشبهة التقليد أو النسخ المتطابق.
رَسمتْ هذه الملحمة الثيمة التي تفرض وقائع سنة الحياة في الفناء وانتهاء المجد الحاكم، إذا كان القارئ ينتظر الأحداث المصيرية أو يتابع النهاية، فالكاتب هنا قد حَطَّم هذه الرغبة، ليكون الاستمتاع بالرحلة نفسها، بالمحطات، بنضوج كل شخصية ومحاول استكشافها للعالم، فتكون مُصاحبًا لها من البداية حتى النهاية، يخاف البعض من الخوض في غمار الحياة، تتنازعه الكوابيس حين يفقد حبيبًا، في قناعة أن الحياة لن تكتمل بعد فقد هذا الحبيب، وفي تاريخ برودنبروك، رحلتْ شخصيات كثيرة، وتألّمتُ في مشهد الشهقة الأخيرة حين تُسلَّم الروح إلى ربها، ثم يأتي الجيل الجديد، ليرسم أحداثًا جديدة مختلفة، تَخطُّ عوالم الأسرة، أهذه الحياة؟ أن نولد ونستمتع بطفولتنا كي نكبر ونتزوج وننجب ونتألم ونشيخ ونودع أحبابنا ثم يأتي علينا الدور كي يودعنا أطفالنا؟ ألحياة قطارٌ معروفة محطاته؟ أتى توماس مان وأجاب هذا السؤال بحكاية مهولة لا تشوبها شائبة، يحكي ويسرد بأسلوب السارد العليم، الصوت الخارجي الذي يُذكرك بشهرزاد، يقصُّ عليك سنن الحياة في السابقين والقادمين، يصف لنا بدقة متناهية كل حدث في حياة الأسرة، يُخفي الأسرال ويكشفها، ثم في آخر الحكاية، في آخر سطور الكتاب الثاني، تنهار الأسرة وتجلس وحدك تتفكر في مصيرك أنت.
تمت.
٢٦ يوليو ٢٠٢١
August 21, 2015
Bra-effin'-oh, young Mann -- I'm pretty sure this breaks the world record for precocious achievement of towering literary artistry. Published in 1899 when dude was like 25 years old. Must've taken a couple years to write. Can't imagine a current undergrad publishing something like this in a few years. But I didn't actually read Mann's text -- Mann comes to me filtered through John E. Woods's sensibility and super-steady, elastic, attentive prose style. The duo is as good as it gets. Of the four "major" Mann novels (plus the famous novella about the chicken hawk who dyes his hair, which I read 10 years ago translated by someone other than Woods or Michael Henry Heim -- we should really all write to Woods and ask him to translate the "stories of three decades"), I'd rank this ahead of neck-and-neck third and fourth place finishers Doctor Faustus and The Magic Mountain, but behind the monumental achievement of Joseph and His Brothers, the importance/impact of which deepens in my mind now that a year or so has passed since I read it. I love the thematic overlap among these novels. In "Buddenbrooks," there's the sort of transgenerational family saga he returns to thirty years later in "Joseph and His Bros," specializing in sibling conflict; Hanno and his mah's musical obsession echoes "Doctor Faustus" in advance -- the super-descriptive pages toward the very end relaying young Johann's improvisation on piano pulled out the prose stops, suggesting the confounded turbulence of youth, including in Hanno's case the suggestion of a desire to get with his cool friend Kai (I'm sure Mann's novels have launched hundreds of dissertations exploring his portraits of restrained sexuality); there's illness as in "The Magic Mountain," particularly Christian's case. But generally I was surprised how immersive this was, how quickly I entered the world of the story and lived with this middle-late 1880s generation. I expected something far more stodgy and comparatively amateur (like proto-Mann), I think, and so was pleased to move through this and find him writing at the highest level from the get-go -- it's not a "soap opera" as some on here have said, but Tony's kiss with the aspiring young doctor at the beach as a teen and the subsequent betrothal to the ridiculous obsequious Bendix Grunlich with sideburns dusted in the same gold powder they use on almonds around Xmas really got me into it -- the conflict between love and familial duty, the sort of restrictions that in the West have gone extinct for the good of society but the detriment of our literature. Loved the repeated image of the waves "raucously" crashing on the shore, their "ineluctable" succession suggestive of the passage of time, generations that emerge from the previous and give way to the next -- loved Thomas's evening of mystical insight after reading some philosophy (its Eastern overtones reminded me of Schopenhauer) and his totally realistic determination to change his life and then after a few days return to his entirely societally constrained ways. Loved the conflict between Thomas the rational conservative duty-bound for the family's sake to stand firmly in the past and Christian the globe-trotting liberated gadabout who tells a good story and cares not about convention with both feet planted in the future. Loved the conflict between the old ways and the emerging new (exemplified by the organ teacher's initial exasperated disdain for Wagner, followed by his understanding and appreciation). In the same ballpark but not quite playing the same socio-historical game as Joseph Roth's The Radetzky March -- unlike other Mann novels that have an eye out (often maybe semi-excessively explicitly in Magic Mt. and Dr F.) for the political situations of their time, this one seems more completely focused on its characters and their world. Loved how Mann handled Tony's every utterance with characteristic affectionate "gentle irony" -- loved how Mann never condescends to characters he knows are questionable, how he stands back and presents it with at most a suggestion of judgment. Loved the patient, thorough, consistently reinforced characterizations (Christian's roving eyes and trouble swallowing and story about Johnny Thunderstorm; Thomas's mustaches waxed and curled to extend beyond his either cheek). Loved the minor characters, particularly the early iteration of Gosch, whose first name I won't dare try to spell, awed by Gerda's beauty, with his hair combed forward over his brow. Loved how Gerda is like one of those mysterious statuesque women who glide from the shadows of ruined Gothic novel estates. Only Clara seemed undercharacterized and only once or twice did I feel a little confused about a plot point. There's so much life in here, all of it lived and "real" without a trace of post-modern or post-realist "reality hunger" techniques -- it's about as straight-up conventional pre-Joyce steady third-person narration as could be, a proper novel uber alles, the shoulders-of-giants Faulkner will stand upon when he conceives of the Compson family fallen on hard times (thanks to a review on here that mentions this parallel). Makes me want to read more 19th century lit like Dickens, Austen, Eliot. Anyway, a great novel, totally ambitious, controlled, and affective in its portrayal of a family's decline thanks mostly to the natural progression of innate individual sensibilities making their way through life -- ends on a really pessimistic note, something along the lines of "life will crush us all" -- but overall its presentation of life's deep dark richness and warmth is somehow optimistic, or at least suggests that our brief experience of however many days we're allotted is absolutely worth it.
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