Mann, Thomas

German novelist and critic. A largely subjective artist, he drew his themes from his own experiences and inner thoughts. He was constantly preoccupied with the idea of death in the midst of life and with the position of the artist in relation to society. His first novel was Buddenbrooks (1901), a saga of a merchant family which traces through four generations the gradual growth of decay as culture slowly saps virility. Der Zauberberg/The Magic Mountain (1924), a vast symbolic work on the subject of disease in sick minds and bodies, and also the sickness of Europe, probes the question of culture in relation to life. Notable among his works of short fiction is ‘Der Tod in Venedig/Death in Venice’ (1913). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.

He was born in Lübeck, the younger brother of Heinrich Mann. He worked in an insurance office in Munich and became a reader on the staff of the periodical Simplicissimus, in which some of his stories were published. His opposition to the Nazi regime forced him to leave Germany and in 1940 he became a US citizen, but he returned to Europe in 1954. Among his other works are a biblical tetralogy Joseph und seine Brüde/Joseph and his Brothers (1933–43); Doktor Faustus, das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkuehn, erzählt von einem Freund/Dr Faustus: the Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuehn, as told by a Friend (1947), the Faust legend brought up to date with a background of pre- and post-war Germany; Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1954), widely considered to be the greatest comic novel in German literature; and a number of short stories, including ‘Tonio Kröger’ (1903) which exemplifies the conflict between the ordinary person and the artist.