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yourlovelyman 's review for:
The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann
Finally getting a chance to opine on this one—there is quite a lot to dig into. Bear in mind that although I’m giving it a high rating, it may not be for you. This book is dense and took me quite a long time to get through. But if you have a thing for hard literature, rich with ruminations on life, love, death, sickness, war, the political and the personal, then that’s exactly what you’re in for.
The story begins with a young man, Hans Castorp, going up to a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin. Once there, he is convinced to stay—ultimately (we are told early on) for seven years.
There is an element of romance. He meets someone, falls in love, reflects on old love, and experiences all the feelings that come with love. His love fills him with a sense of purpose, a reason to come to life and to look forward to lunch every day. No spoilers—there may or may not be heartbreak as well.
There is an element of mystery. We don’t know exactly what’s going on at the sanatorium, why people stay so long, or what treatments—medical and psychological—are being tested behind closed doors.
There is an element of the philosophical. Two characters seem to spend most of their time sparring over whether hope remains for humanity, in discussions that seem to reflect the author’s thoughts on what led Europe to war. Admittedly I found these passages to be the most difficult to get through. A reader familiar with European history, especially after World War I, might find them witty and intriguing, but others will likely find them rather dense.
There is an element of the psychological. Many theories were emerging around this time regarding the subconscious mind, and Mann seems to have wanted to put them under his literary microscope:
Lastly, there is an excellent passage on the death of one character. Death, or at least what we would call end-of-life planning, is deeply personal and thus still somewhat taboo to discuss in western society. But Mann paints a remarkable picture.
A character lies ill, in what we would call hospice. He grows weaker, his breathing is strained, and he is eventually bedbound. Soon he is barely awake, and those close to him remain at his side. He wakes up briefly, apparently experiencing terminal lucidity, insisting that he feels fine and would like to return to his work. That evening, he closes his eyes for the last time.
There is much more. It’s obviously not a casual read and may take you some time to get through. (Hopefully not seven years.) But if it’s the kind of challenging work you like to read, I think you will find the Magic Mountain worth your time. Like any mountain, the glory is in the climb.
The story begins with a young man, Hans Castorp, going up to a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin. Once there, he is convinced to stay—ultimately (we are told early on) for seven years.
There is an element of romance. He meets someone, falls in love, reflects on old love, and experiences all the feelings that come with love. His love fills him with a sense of purpose, a reason to come to life and to look forward to lunch every day. No spoilers—there may or may not be heartbreak as well.
There is an element of mystery. We don’t know exactly what’s going on at the sanatorium, why people stay so long, or what treatments—medical and psychological—are being tested behind closed doors.
There is an element of the philosophical. Two characters seem to spend most of their time sparring over whether hope remains for humanity, in discussions that seem to reflect the author’s thoughts on what led Europe to war. Admittedly I found these passages to be the most difficult to get through. A reader familiar with European history, especially after World War I, might find them witty and intriguing, but others will likely find them rather dense.
There is an element of the psychological. Many theories were emerging around this time regarding the subconscious mind, and Mann seems to have wanted to put them under his literary microscope:
“[The Doctor’s] researches, dedicated to the psychic dissection and the dream life of his patients, had always had a subterranean character, the whiff of the catacomb.
“His field of study has always been concerned with those dark, vast regions of the human soul that are called the subconscious, although one would perhaps do better to speak of the superconscious, since there are occasions when the knowledge that rises up from these regions exceeds an individual’s conscious knowledge.”
Lastly, there is an excellent passage on the death of one character. Death, or at least what we would call end-of-life planning, is deeply personal and thus still somewhat taboo to discuss in western society. But Mann paints a remarkable picture.
A character lies ill, in what we would call hospice. He grows weaker, his breathing is strained, and he is eventually bedbound. Soon he is barely awake, and those close to him remain at his side. He wakes up briefly, apparently experiencing terminal lucidity, insisting that he feels fine and would like to return to his work. That evening, he closes his eyes for the last time.
There is much more. It’s obviously not a casual read and may take you some time to get through. (Hopefully not seven years.) But if it’s the kind of challenging work you like to read, I think you will find the Magic Mountain worth your time. Like any mountain, the glory is in the climb.