Using a chronological interpretation of the text as it took shape, the author demonstrates that Thomas Mann's novel "Joseph and His Brothers" has close direct links with the years in which it was written, i.e. the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. In a period calling increasingly for political commitment on the part of the author, Mann saw himself obligated to review the fatalistic and unpolitical stance he had hitherto adopted. "Joseph and His Brothers" invites reflection on whether and how it is possible to preserve the philosophical premisses of its author (metaphysics and the celebration of 'inner' values) in a modern, political age.