Talk:Thomas Mann

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Contents 1 Ironic 2 Sexuality in the works of Thomas Mann 3 Agreement: sexuality is a minor part of his oeuvre 4 Did he ever came back to Germany,or he died in exile? 5 "Nihilist"

[edit] Ironic

There is any Thomas Mann's novel that is not ironic? --Vasile 22:35, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

He was a fairly ironic fellow. Although not particularly funny. I don't think Joseph and His Brothers is particularly ironic, although I'm not sure, not having read it. john k 23:23, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

There is quite a lot of irony in Joseph Georgius 15:30, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC) I am sure, having read it.Georgius 18:04, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Read Buddenbrooks.

[edit] Sexuality in the works of Thomas Mann

I have changed "Das Ring der Nibelungen" to "Walsungenblut" as the work in which incest is the subject; the short story Walsungenblut is a minor work about incestual relationship of rich jewish bourgois sibling pair with many allusions to Wagners "Das Ring des Nibelungen" (in this work Siegmund and Sieglinde are an incestual brother-sister pair parenting the central character of Siegfried; "der Nibelungen" instead of "des Nibelungen" is a common mistake, a mistake which even a native german speaker could make)

Nevertheless, I have some doubts about the stressing of sexual themes in the article. I think it is disproportional and sensation seeking. I hope someone will react to this; I am badly equipped for editing the article myself as my English is poor and I am not a native German speaker either. Georgius 19:15, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

He was known for his humor and considered "Royal Highness" to be a comedy. There are also many comedic moments in "The Magic Mountain."

His categorization as "Gay Writer" is dubious. If you read Thomas Mann, you can edit the article.

[edit] Agreement: sexuality is a minor part of his oeuvre

I wholeheartedly agree with the comment above - evidently Mann's repressed homosexuality influenced his writing, as well as, occasionally, his choice of theme, however it is not as central an inluencer in his writing as many other more interesting points. I may spend some time thinking about how best to edit the article to de-emphasise this without eradicating what is - nonetheless - an interesting (biographical) detail. It should always be rememebered that the author is not the book.

[edit] Did he ever came back to Germany,or he died in exile?

Dzoni 20:09, 6 April 2006 (UTC) "Thomas Mann returned to Europe in 1952, where he resided in Kilchberg near Zurich in Switzerland. He was never to live in Germany again, though he traveled there regularly and was widely celebrated. His most important visit to Germany was in 1949, at the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, where he attended celebrations in both Frankfurt am Main and Weimar, making a clear statement that German culture extends beyond the new political borders.

In 1955, he died of Atherosclerosis in a hospital in Zurich." ^^^^^ Thank you on that information,thats been very helpfulDzoni 22:33, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Nihilist"

To say that Mann ultimately became a left-wing "nihilist" is not only patently false (see later in the article where his humanism is discussed) but also POV, considering the negative connotation usually attached to the word nihilism (and if that connotation is not intended then some explanation is needed). Nihilism is, moreover, an ambiguous term that may or may not refer to a political philosophy, whereas here a word with strictly political meaning is called for.--Demflan 03:18, 24 July 2006 (UTC)