Mountain of Magic -- Thomas Mann Collection

Author: (German) Mann (Mann, T.) wrote, translated by Qian Hongjia
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Thomas Mann is the most brilliant star on the German literary scene of the 20th century, and his works have had a wide global impact. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. This book is grand in scale, with numerous characters; it consists of two main threads: depicting the triangular love between the protagonist Hans, the young woman Clavdia, and the wealthy merchant Peiperkoorn, revealing the contradictions between life and death, spirit and flesh; and surrounding the struggle between democrats and militarists, reflecting the spiritual outlook and ideological conflicts of German intellectuals before World War I. University student Hans comes to a high-altitude tuberculosis sanatorium to visit his cousin Joachim, only to find himself infected with the disease and forced to 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 declines. The Russian woman Clavdia even makes him utterly captivated. He forgets his career and responsibilities, and the high mountains become a "fairy mountain," where he is trapped and cannot escape. In the blink of an eye, seven years pass. His cousin dies, Clavdia leaves, and those close friends he once interacted with also go their separate ways. Life shatters his fantasies one by one, leaving him in pain and loneliness. The of World War I wake him up. Looking back, Hans realizes he has been asleep on the "fairy mountain" for seven years, so he resolutely sets off for the front.
Table Talk: During the meal in the gaudy dining room, young Hans Castorp felt very embarrassed because ever since he involuntarily took that walk, his head had been shaking like his grandfather's. Now, sitting at the table, this symptom occurred regularly and could not be suppressed or concealed. Besides solemnly holding up his chin (though this could not last long), he devised various ways to cover this weakness, such as trying to move his head as much as possible, sometimes turning his head to the left and sometimes to the right while speaking, or leaning his left arm tightly against the table to maintain balance when the spoon was brought to his mouth. During breaks, he rested his elbow on the table and supported his head with his hand. However, in his own eyes, this posture seemed a bit crude and only mattered in a group of uncouth patients. But he felt weak all over, and his mood was quite bad during the meal. Originally, he always used mealtime to distract himself and relieve his worries, finding solace in this opportunity. The truth is—Hans Castorp knew this very well—that the shameful head trembling he was trying to suppress was not solely caused by his body, nor could it be blamed on the air here or his efforts to adapt. Instead, it reflected some inner excitement and was directly related to his attempt to distract himself.
Mrs. Chauchat always sat down at the table very late. Before she arrived, Hans Castorp would be restless, waiting to hear the sound of the glass door slamming shut, which was inevitable whenever she entered. He knew that hearing this sound would make him jump and his expression would immediately darken—a routine occurrence. In the past, when this happened, he would angrily shake his head and glare resentfully as the careless woman took her seat at the "upper-class Russian table." Sometimes, he would even mutter curses between his teeth, expressing his irritation. But now he was different. He lowered his head over the bowl, bit his lips tightly, or deliberately turned his head to the other side, because his anger seemed to have subsided and he no longer wanted to blame her casually. Moreover, he faintly felt that others were also critical of her, and he, too, had some fault and shared part of the responsibility. In short, he felt ashamed. It was not accurate to say he was ashamed of Mrs. Chauchat; rather, he felt extremely embarrassed in front of everyone—though this thought was unnecessary, as in the dining room, no one paid attention to Mrs. Chauchat's habits or Hans Castorp's embarrassment. Perhaps only the female teacher Miss Engelhardt, sitting to Hans's right, was an exception. This poor soul had already noticed that Hans Castorp's sensitivity to the sound of the door closing suggested that the young man opposite her harbored some passion for the Russian woman. Additionally, compared to the actual situation, his demeanor was nothing. Besides, his pretense of indifference—he lacked the talent and training for acting and was not very skilled at putting on an act—did not mean he was uninterested in the woman. Instead, it indicated that his emotions had developed to a higher level. Miss Engelhardt...