Talk:The Magic Mountain

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Both the summaries and significance are way too short. --Soumyasch 11:44, 25 February 2006 (UTC

Contents 1 Settembrimi 2 Chauchat 3 Castorp 4 English 5 Beauty & Eros

[edit] Settembrimi

The discussion of Settembrimi seems too positive. I feel as though he mostly remains a sort of caricature of the Democratic Liberal, even if this somewhat lessens as the book goes on. Also, his rather grotesque nationalism ought to be mentioned - Mann seems to make much of the fact that Settembrimi's humanist universalism is combined with a very crude, parochial Italian nationalism. john k 17:54, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Surely a follow encyclopedist like Settembrini can expect favourable treatment by his colleagues here on Wikipedia? :-) I am sure that, had the Zauberberg be set in our times, the good man would have a laptop (an Olivetti), enjoying the good wireless coverage of the Berghof to hunt vandals, engage in editing wars on Liberalism, and make his voice heard on AfD? Arbor 18:03, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chauchat

See Chauchat. Coincidence or is her name an allusion to the coming WW I? Leibniz 18:17, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

it seems to me that Mme Chauchat's name is cognate with the important Hindu yama of purity, or "shaucha." She represented purity - the perfectly unattainable - and yet was diseased and dying. User:Suzannel

About Mynheer Peeperkorn I read somewhere (but I do not remember the source) that he was modelled after Gerhard Hauptmann. In light of Settembrini portrayed as too positive one can say about him that he too is too complacent for leaving the sanatorium and practising what he preaches.

[edit] Castorp

I wonder if Hans Castorp`s character is really symbolic of the Weimar Republic, because although Mann completed the novel several years after WWI ended, the novel ends with a view of Castorp disappearing into the fog of WWI - which makes it seem more likely that he represents pre-war Germany (?) Lugub 19:41, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

You are perfectly right! But note that the article writes "... can be seen ..." ; this is OK, although I would not see it that way. -- User 87.160. ..., 10 Oct. 2007, 19:30 CEST

The problem with symbolism is that symbols are subjectively interpreted. Does anyone really know that Mann wanted to make a certain character a symbol of an abstract concept? Do you think that Mann sat down and said to himself, "I will make Castorp a symbol of the Weimar Republic and Clavdia Chauchat will be a symbol of the coming war"? I do not think that such authors write in this manner. No one, however, really knows what was in Mann's mind. His own statements about his thoughts are the only facts that we have, and he never said that his characters were mere symbols for abstractions.Lestrade (talk) 13:06, 8 February 2008 (UTC)Lestrade

[edit] English

Substituted 'ss' for ß in the name Ziemssen. Most English readers will not recognize ß – and this is, after all, English Wikipedia. Sca (talk) 20:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

ß is merely a joining of the Long s and the short s.Lestrade (talk) 20:12, 7 February 2008 (UTC)Lestrade

[edit] Beauty & Eros

The adjective "erotic" in the phrase The erotic allure of the beautiful Polish boy Tadzio has been deleted for the following reason. Eros implies sexual love. Beauty does not imply sexual love. On the contrary, beauty is disinterested (cf. Kant, Critique of Judgment, § 5). The Polish boy's fascination was the result of youthful, Ideal beauty, not of sexual interest.Lestrade (talk) 15:50, 15 March 2008 (UTC)Lestrade