Forces of Ambiguity

Thomas Mann's novel Der Zauberberg (1913-1924) illustrates a change in the author's conceptions of life, death, disease and Eros following World War I. Set in a Swiss tuberculosis sanatorium, the novel's main protagonist, Hans Castorp, comes into contact with three pedagogic figures who each represent a different attitude towards these themes. The humanist Settembrini, for example, affirms life but is repulsed by Eros, disease and death; the Jesuit ascetic Naphta glorifies erotic suffering and death while denying life; and the coffee magnate Peeperkorn celebrates life and Eros - yet to a pathological extent.

This book relies on intertextual theory to examine the relation of these conceptions of life, death, disease and Eros within the novel to the thought of Novalis, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Exploring the dialogic clash of their conceptions together with the sociological implications of their work, this author investigates how the relationships between Der Zauberberg and the intertexts influence the reader's interpretation of the nature of life, death, disease and Eros as well as the effect they have on the culture depicted in the novel.

Autorentext

Jessica Macauley began studying German at Canterbury University, New Zealand, while completing a Bachelor of Music in Performance Piano. She continued her German studies at Victoria University, New Zealand, where she was awarded her doctorate in German Literature in 2015. Jessica Macauley has published papers in The European Connection and in Ad Maiora, and she currently lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand.

Inhalt

CONTENTS: Design and intention - Sympathie mit dem Tode: The dominion of death over life - Ambiguous affiliations: The stimulus of life and disease - The seeds of war: Disease, decadence and destruction - Erotic stimulus, gender and homosexuality - Decadence and the erotic: The powers of immorality.