My father, Thomas Mann

Author: Erica Mann
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: Thomas Mann called Erica "a bold and outstanding child," and when problems arose at home, he would insist, "Let Erica add the salt to the soup." Erica was Thomas Mann's favorite child, accompanying him through key phases of his life and greatly influencing him. When he hesitated in 1933 whether to openly support the anti-Fascist émigré camp, she played a crucial role in his attitude shift. When he emigrated from Europe to the United States in 1938, it was Erica who helped him adapt to life on the new continent. In his final decade of life, his eldest daughter became his intimate collaborator; she edited his manuscripts, arranged his activities, assisted him in attending lectures, and managed matters such as turning his novels into films. This book chronicles the history of this unusual father-daughter relationship. All of Erica Mann's significant remarks and attitudes about her father are comprehensively collected here for the first time and commented upon. Many articles and letters—most of which have yet to be fully explored—provide a unique and inspiring introduction to Thomas Mann, offering a close-up view of the writer that only someone particularly close could achieve.