Mountains of Madness - The Collected Works of Thomas Mann

Author: (German) Mann (Mann, T.)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Thomas Mann is one of the most brilliant stars on the German literary scene of the 20th century, and his works have had a wide global influence; he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. This book is grand in scale and features numerous characters; it is composed of two main threads: depicting the triangular love between the protagonist Hans, the young woman Clavdia, and the wealthy merchant Pepercorn, revealing the contradictions between life and death, spirit and flesh; and revolving around the struggle between democrats and militarists, reflecting the intellectual landscape and the opposition of different ideological views among German intellectuals before World War I. University student Hans comes to a high-altitude tuberculosis sanatorium to visit his cousin Joachim, only to find that he too contracts the disease and must stay for treatment. The people in the sanatorium come from all over the world, with diverse personalities and thoughts. Hans is an idealistic young man, but after interacting with these people, his thoughts become confused, and his spirit becomes depressed; the Russian woman Clavdia even makes him lose his senses. He forgets his career and responsibilities, and the high mountains become a "magic mountain," where he is deeply entangled and cannot extricate himself. In the blink of an eye, seven years pass, his cousin dies, Clavdia leaves, and those close friends he interacts with also go their separate ways. Life shatters his fantasies one by one, leaving him in pain and loneliness. The of World War I shakes him awake. Looking back, Hans realizes he has been asleep on the "magic mountain" for seven years, so he resolutely sets off for the front lines.