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The Magician
Colm Tóibín’s new novel opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice. He is the most successful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. He flees Germany for Switzerland, France and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton and then in Los Angeles.
The Magician is an intimate, astonishingly complex portrait of Mann, his magnificent and complex wife Katia, and the times in which they lived—the first world war, the rise of Hitler, World War II, the Cold War, and exile.
The Magician is an intimate, astonishingly complex portrait of Mann, his magnificent and complex wife Katia, and the times in which they lived—the first world war, the rise of Hitler, World War II, the Cold War, and exile.
498 pages, Hardcover
First published September 7, 2021
About the author
Colm Tóibín
214 books4,496 followersColm Tóibín FRSL, is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet. Tóibín is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University in Manhattan and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,208 reviews
March 17, 2023
[Edited 3/17/23]
This book is a fictionalized biography of the Nobel prize-winning German author, Thomas Mann, kind of a counterpart to Toibin’s book The Master, a fictionalized biography of Henry James. Toibin is, and Mann was, gay or bi, and in his biography of James, Toibin assumed Henry James was gay but 'in the closet' – there is no hard evidence.
Thomas Mann had a long and complicated life (1875-1955). I know I often summarize books rather than ‘review’ them, so for this book I thought I would just highlight a few important themes of Mann’s life that intrigued me, as Mann was portrayed by the author.
Above: Mann’s two oldest children with their gay lovers. Erika, second from left; Klaus, far right. From dw.com
One aspect of Mann’s life, which occupies a lot of the story, was his wild and crazy children. Gay or bi-, Mann fathered six children and they all led complex lives that would be reality show material today. If then was now, and we were in Germany, we’d see one of their pictures on the front page of the National Enquirer every week at the supermarket. The best example of their chaotic adventures is the oldest brother and sister, both gay, who became famous in Germany as stage actors starring in plays that they wrote about their own love lives and their sexuality. This was Europe so they could do that when they could not have done so in the United States. They announced to the press that they would marry each other's lover, which the young woman did.
Fortunately times change, but at one point, one of their daughters said of their mother “She will think she has been a failure as a mother. Three homosexuals, or two homosexuals and one bisexual. Two daughters who enjoy the company of older men.” (Two daughters married men their father’s age.)
Independent of their sexual orientation, the relationship between the two oldest siblings is fascinating. Perhaps it has something to do with genetics because the situation was repeated from Mann’s wife's family to his own. Mann's wife had a twin brother. When they were young, they existed for each other in a self-contained world. Even at social gatherings, everything was a private joke between themselves and it was difficult for any outsider to enter that world. That was repeated in the relationship between Mann’s two oldest children. It continued all their lives until the brother became absent and dysfunctional in his 30s or so. (I also think of the brother-sister act in Donna Tart’s novel The Secret History.)
Above: Mann’s in his study in his California home from brightspotcdn.com
All of Mann’s children relied on their father’s financial support well into and beyond adulthood. And yet they critiqued his lifestyle, saying that the house he eventually built California after he fled Germany during the War was ostentatious, and they had too many servants, etc. A continuous stream of money flowed out from him to his children for their rent, travel and other support, and they always had meals cooked by servants and a rent-free home to return to all their lives.
Another theme that intrigued me was Mann’s reaction to the rise of Hitler. Of course he opposed Hitler. But why did it take him so long to speak out publicly against Hitler? Mann was the most influential intellectual in Germany. Hitler took power about the time that Mann was at the top of his fame: he had received the Nobel Prize in 1929. Mann’s main excuse was that he did not want to endanger his wife's parents who were in Germany and who, even though they became Protestants, were considered by everyone to be Jewish. But he also knew that most of his money was derived from his book sales to his German readers. He knew that opposing Hitler would result in the banning of his books.
Mann already saw one effect of Hitler: Mann gave well-paid lectures around the country, but suddenly organized Nazi thugs appeared at his lectures to chant slogans and shout him down. In reaction, he wrote a weaselly political book that some critics called “unintelligible.”
Mann simply assumed Hitler could not rise to power in Germany. It’s chilling, in the context of modern American politics, to be reminded how Hitler did it: among other things, the repetition of lies, the need for enemies, public reprisals to those who opposed him.
After Hitler took power, Mann and his family fled first to Switzerland, then to France, then to the United States. In the US they lived first in Princeton, New Jersey, and later, California. Still Mann remained silent. Mann and his wife were invited to a private dinner with the Roosevelts and later he met several times with Eleanor Roosevelt to strategize about how he could help the war effort. Eventually Mann finally spoke out forcefully against Hitler but you wonder what was the point at that time, given that America had already entered the war.
Above: Mann’s home in California from watmh.org
Mann liked real estate. He built a mansion in Germany in part to get his wife re-interested in family life after she became a patient in a tuberculosis sanitarium. After a year, she seemed to simply be adopting the life of “a patient.” His strategy worked. She came back home to her husband and children. Her telling of her experiences and Mann’s numerous visits to the sanitarium became the basis for one of his most famous books, The Magic Mountain. Much later he hired an architect to build a home in Pacific Palisades in California. It’s still there and it recently sold for $14 million. (Amazingly, it was listed as a ‘demo’ since the land was so much more valuable than the house, but it was bought and saved from demolition by the German government.)
For most of his life Mann’s wife was his manager. She protected his secluded time for his writing. In later years his oldest daughter took over that role. For all of Mann’s life, his wife managed the often-times chaotic complexities that their six children got into. Mann left not only the running of his house to his wife but the raising and the management of the children. He appeared at dinner and cracked jokes and did magic tricks (the title) but otherwise he was an absent father. A dozen times in the story some dramatic, chaotic family situation arises and it's followed by the words ‘Thomas retired to his study and closed the door.’
Mann’s older brother was an important influence, and at times a nemesis, throughout his life. His brother became a well-respected author as well. He wrote mostly about politics, but his politics were radical. Mann hated to talk politics with his brother. And, as Hitler’s power grew, his brother became another person constantly urging Mann to speak out and oppose Hitler. The two Mann brothers in effect came to be opposing leaders of thought about different approaches to German government. And, of course, while the nation was having this reasoned intellectual discussion, Hitler arrived on the scene and burned the place down. His brother was another one who didn’t like Mann’s lifestyle, but Mann supported his brother financially for much of his brother’s life.
It's interesting how the author structures the book. It's biography but it is far from a traditional biography. Dates are hardly ever mentioned. We do not hear what year he was born or when he was married or what year this or that book was published or how old he was when some dramatic event occurred. In fact at times I found myself wondering ‘How old was Mann now?’
Toibin does focus on Mann’s work in the sense that he gives us an overview of how particularly important works came about such as Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Dr. Faustus and Death in Venice. Death in Venice is particularly intriguing. It’s the story of an old man in love with a young boy, and you wonder how a closeted gay man could have ‘gotten away with’ this story? The author explains how that was the case. And at the risk of giving too much away, I won’t go into details about Mann’s sex life, but some people, including family members, ‘knew,’ and many suspected his orientation.
Mann on a German postage stamp from Wikimedia
When the McCarthy era hit the US, Mann and most of his children were investigated by the FBI. 'They had files.' You can imagine all the meticulous details those files were filled with about his children’s sex lives. Against US State Department urgings, Mann agreed to give a lecture in East Germany which the US authorities feared would help 'legitimize' East Germany’s communist government. After that, in effect, Mann and his children were hounded out of the country and Mann spent his last years in Switzerland.
A great book. Very readable. Maybe a bit too much detail on the children’s lives, especially the details on getting all members of his extended family out of Europe as Germany took over country after country. The book has no pictures, so I added some in the review and put captions under them.
This book is a fictionalized biography of the Nobel prize-winning German author, Thomas Mann, kind of a counterpart to Toibin’s book The Master, a fictionalized biography of Henry James. Toibin is, and Mann was, gay or bi, and in his biography of James, Toibin assumed Henry James was gay but 'in the closet' – there is no hard evidence.
Thomas Mann had a long and complicated life (1875-1955). I know I often summarize books rather than ‘review’ them, so for this book I thought I would just highlight a few important themes of Mann’s life that intrigued me, as Mann was portrayed by the author.
Above: Mann’s two oldest children with their gay lovers. Erika, second from left; Klaus, far right. From dw.com
One aspect of Mann’s life, which occupies a lot of the story, was his wild and crazy children. Gay or bi-, Mann fathered six children and they all led complex lives that would be reality show material today. If then was now, and we were in Germany, we’d see one of their pictures on the front page of the National Enquirer every week at the supermarket. The best example of their chaotic adventures is the oldest brother and sister, both gay, who became famous in Germany as stage actors starring in plays that they wrote about their own love lives and their sexuality. This was Europe so they could do that when they could not have done so in the United States. They announced to the press that they would marry each other's lover, which the young woman did.
Fortunately times change, but at one point, one of their daughters said of their mother “She will think she has been a failure as a mother. Three homosexuals, or two homosexuals and one bisexual. Two daughters who enjoy the company of older men.” (Two daughters married men their father’s age.)
Independent of their sexual orientation, the relationship between the two oldest siblings is fascinating. Perhaps it has something to do with genetics because the situation was repeated from Mann’s wife's family to his own. Mann's wife had a twin brother. When they were young, they existed for each other in a self-contained world. Even at social gatherings, everything was a private joke between themselves and it was difficult for any outsider to enter that world. That was repeated in the relationship between Mann’s two oldest children. It continued all their lives until the brother became absent and dysfunctional in his 30s or so. (I also think of the brother-sister act in Donna Tart’s novel The Secret History.)
Above: Mann’s in his study in his California home from brightspotcdn.com
All of Mann’s children relied on their father’s financial support well into and beyond adulthood. And yet they critiqued his lifestyle, saying that the house he eventually built California after he fled Germany during the War was ostentatious, and they had too many servants, etc. A continuous stream of money flowed out from him to his children for their rent, travel and other support, and they always had meals cooked by servants and a rent-free home to return to all their lives.
Another theme that intrigued me was Mann’s reaction to the rise of Hitler. Of course he opposed Hitler. But why did it take him so long to speak out publicly against Hitler? Mann was the most influential intellectual in Germany. Hitler took power about the time that Mann was at the top of his fame: he had received the Nobel Prize in 1929. Mann’s main excuse was that he did not want to endanger his wife's parents who were in Germany and who, even though they became Protestants, were considered by everyone to be Jewish. But he also knew that most of his money was derived from his book sales to his German readers. He knew that opposing Hitler would result in the banning of his books.
Mann already saw one effect of Hitler: Mann gave well-paid lectures around the country, but suddenly organized Nazi thugs appeared at his lectures to chant slogans and shout him down. In reaction, he wrote a weaselly political book that some critics called “unintelligible.”
Mann simply assumed Hitler could not rise to power in Germany. It’s chilling, in the context of modern American politics, to be reminded how Hitler did it: among other things, the repetition of lies, the need for enemies, public reprisals to those who opposed him.
After Hitler took power, Mann and his family fled first to Switzerland, then to France, then to the United States. In the US they lived first in Princeton, New Jersey, and later, California. Still Mann remained silent. Mann and his wife were invited to a private dinner with the Roosevelts and later he met several times with Eleanor Roosevelt to strategize about how he could help the war effort. Eventually Mann finally spoke out forcefully against Hitler but you wonder what was the point at that time, given that America had already entered the war.
Above: Mann’s home in California from watmh.org
Mann liked real estate. He built a mansion in Germany in part to get his wife re-interested in family life after she became a patient in a tuberculosis sanitarium. After a year, she seemed to simply be adopting the life of “a patient.” His strategy worked. She came back home to her husband and children. Her telling of her experiences and Mann’s numerous visits to the sanitarium became the basis for one of his most famous books, The Magic Mountain. Much later he hired an architect to build a home in Pacific Palisades in California. It’s still there and it recently sold for $14 million. (Amazingly, it was listed as a ‘demo’ since the land was so much more valuable than the house, but it was bought and saved from demolition by the German government.)
For most of his life Mann’s wife was his manager. She protected his secluded time for his writing. In later years his oldest daughter took over that role. For all of Mann’s life, his wife managed the often-times chaotic complexities that their six children got into. Mann left not only the running of his house to his wife but the raising and the management of the children. He appeared at dinner and cracked jokes and did magic tricks (the title) but otherwise he was an absent father. A dozen times in the story some dramatic, chaotic family situation arises and it's followed by the words ‘Thomas retired to his study and closed the door.’
Mann’s older brother was an important influence, and at times a nemesis, throughout his life. His brother became a well-respected author as well. He wrote mostly about politics, but his politics were radical. Mann hated to talk politics with his brother. And, as Hitler’s power grew, his brother became another person constantly urging Mann to speak out and oppose Hitler. The two Mann brothers in effect came to be opposing leaders of thought about different approaches to German government. And, of course, while the nation was having this reasoned intellectual discussion, Hitler arrived on the scene and burned the place down. His brother was another one who didn’t like Mann’s lifestyle, but Mann supported his brother financially for much of his brother’s life.
It's interesting how the author structures the book. It's biography but it is far from a traditional biography. Dates are hardly ever mentioned. We do not hear what year he was born or when he was married or what year this or that book was published or how old he was when some dramatic event occurred. In fact at times I found myself wondering ‘How old was Mann now?’
Toibin does focus on Mann’s work in the sense that he gives us an overview of how particularly important works came about such as Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Dr. Faustus and Death in Venice. Death in Venice is particularly intriguing. It’s the story of an old man in love with a young boy, and you wonder how a closeted gay man could have ‘gotten away with’ this story? The author explains how that was the case. And at the risk of giving too much away, I won’t go into details about Mann’s sex life, but some people, including family members, ‘knew,’ and many suspected his orientation.
Mann on a German postage stamp from Wikimedia
When the McCarthy era hit the US, Mann and most of his children were investigated by the FBI. 'They had files.' You can imagine all the meticulous details those files were filled with about his children’s sex lives. Against US State Department urgings, Mann agreed to give a lecture in East Germany which the US authorities feared would help 'legitimize' East Germany’s communist government. After that, in effect, Mann and his children were hounded out of the country and Mann spent his last years in Switzerland.
A great book. Very readable. Maybe a bit too much detail on the children’s lives, especially the details on getting all members of his extended family out of Europe as Germany took over country after country. The book has no pictures, so I added some in the review and put captions under them.
October 3, 2021
This book is the closest I have ever got to Thomas Mann. Despite considering The Buddenbrooks as my top ever reads, I never ventured to read any of his other novels. Likewise, I was not interested in his life, being of the opinion that the general information I know would suffice. And probably nothing would have changed had Mr Toibin not written this book.
Colm Toibin's literary representation of Thomas Mann, his family life and writing was a fascinating opportunity for me to learn a lot about him, however, it does not mean that Thomas Mann is now my favourite novelist. He had an unusual life, relatively financially secure, yet, emotionally he suffered, including his forced emigration, his sexuality and son's suicide. The biography is honest, and Mr Toibin does not force his readers to come to love the German novelist, for which I am grateful.
Reading this book coincided in the best possible way with The Magic Mountain which is one of the toughest reads of the last decade for me. The coincidence was a perfect timing!
Colm Toibin's literary representation of Thomas Mann, his family life and writing was a fascinating opportunity for me to learn a lot about him, however, it does not mean that Thomas Mann is now my favourite novelist. He had an unusual life, relatively financially secure, yet, emotionally he suffered, including his forced emigration, his sexuality and son's suicide. The biography is honest, and Mr Toibin does not force his readers to come to love the German novelist, for which I am grateful.
Reading this book coincided in the best possible way with The Magic Mountain which is one of the toughest reads of the last decade for me. The coincidence was a perfect timing!
October 15, 2021
The Magician by Colm Tóibín
I have never read anything by Thomas Mann but thought I knew something about him. Once I started reading this historical novel and also looking at other information about him, I realized I had known nothing about him except that he wrote Death in Venice. The Magician is well research and informative but may have told me, in a very dry manner, more about Thomas Mann than I would have liked to know.
In real life, hiding so much of himself, his feelings, and his inclinations, Mann shows us more than first realized, in his writings. This story shows us that Mann was always "on the job" when it came to his writing, seeing potential passages, characters, and themes for what he wrote, in every single thing that happened around him, to him, and to others. Mann seemed to have a way of standing back from life when we look at him from the outside, when in reality, everything was making an impression on him at the time or sometimes, sadly, after the fact, when he would realize his regrets for not understanding what was really going on at the time.
There is a distance between us and the characters in this book and it kept me from feeling much. But that could be because of the "Mann" and that he and his family had so much that they needed to hide. Not that they really hid much very well. Several of his children were sexually active in ways that could get them in great trouble and there seemed to be rumors of his oldest daughter and son not only sharing partners but maybe going too far with each other. The story presents Mann as obsessed with the bodies of young boys and young men, including his obsession with his oldest son, while his son was still a child. These obsessions are expressed in Mann's work and his personal writings, some of which Mann destroyed to prevent being discovered by those who would use them against him.
From this story, it seems that Mann's family not didn't mind Mann's obsession with young boys and young men but they even encouraged and abetted it. His hard working and put upon wife seemed to be happy that Mann wouldn't be chasing women like her father did. Their marriage seemed to be a good one in many ways, producing six children despite several miscarriages. There were many suicides in the immediate family and those suicides were a source of great guilt for many of the family members.
Mann's writing earned him the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate and he was watched the world over because of his political leanings and writings. I never felt like the author was attempting to get us to like Mann, he was just showing us the man that Mann tried to keep hidden. I came away liking Mann less after getting to know him than I did before I read this book.
Published September 7th 2021 by Scribner
Thank you to Simon & Schuster/Scribner for the print version of this ARC.
I have never read anything by Thomas Mann but thought I knew something about him. Once I started reading this historical novel and also looking at other information about him, I realized I had known nothing about him except that he wrote Death in Venice. The Magician is well research and informative but may have told me, in a very dry manner, more about Thomas Mann than I would have liked to know.
In real life, hiding so much of himself, his feelings, and his inclinations, Mann shows us more than first realized, in his writings. This story shows us that Mann was always "on the job" when it came to his writing, seeing potential passages, characters, and themes for what he wrote, in every single thing that happened around him, to him, and to others. Mann seemed to have a way of standing back from life when we look at him from the outside, when in reality, everything was making an impression on him at the time or sometimes, sadly, after the fact, when he would realize his regrets for not understanding what was really going on at the time.
There is a distance between us and the characters in this book and it kept me from feeling much. But that could be because of the "Mann" and that he and his family had so much that they needed to hide. Not that they really hid much very well. Several of his children were sexually active in ways that could get them in great trouble and there seemed to be rumors of his oldest daughter and son not only sharing partners but maybe going too far with each other. The story presents Mann as obsessed with the bodies of young boys and young men, including his obsession with his oldest son, while his son was still a child. These obsessions are expressed in Mann's work and his personal writings, some of which Mann destroyed to prevent being discovered by those who would use them against him.
From this story, it seems that Mann's family not didn't mind Mann's obsession with young boys and young men but they even encouraged and abetted it. His hard working and put upon wife seemed to be happy that Mann wouldn't be chasing women like her father did. Their marriage seemed to be a good one in many ways, producing six children despite several miscarriages. There were many suicides in the immediate family and those suicides were a source of great guilt for many of the family members.
Mann's writing earned him the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate and he was watched the world over because of his political leanings and writings. I never felt like the author was attempting to get us to like Mann, he was just showing us the man that Mann tried to keep hidden. I came away liking Mann less after getting to know him than I did before I read this book.
Published September 7th 2021 by Scribner
Thank you to Simon & Schuster/Scribner for the print version of this ARC.
August 4, 2021
Colm Toibin writes beautifully about the talented Nobel Prize winning German writer, Thomas Mann (1875-1955), author of Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain, his research into this complex author is impeccable as he traces his life from 1891 in the small judgemental town of Lubeck where the first inklings of his sexuality emerge. Mann comes from a privileged and influential family, his Brazilian mother, Julia, with her stories, so different from his more conservative father. Mann's dreamy nature push him towards leanings towards the artistic side of life, with little inclination for the family business. He goes on to marry into a wealthy Jewish family, his wife Katia Pringshelm, a strong, bright, worldly, practical, protective, and cultured woman, who goes on to have 6 children resulting in a chaotic household with complicated family dynamics. It is Mann's children who come to refer to him as the 'Magician'.
Mann is immersed in German culture, the music, and the literature, and shaped by his repressed sexuality, considering different versions of himself, with his crushes on young men. He is a man who finds himself living through the most politically turbulent of historical periods in his life, including WW1, although here there is a greater focus on WW2, right up to the Cold War. The chilling terrors of the rise of Nazism and Hitler take a little time to become apparent to Mann, members of his family, like his brother, Heinrich, are far quicker to comprehend the tragic dangers that are becoming all too clear. However, once Mann understands the growing power of Hitler, he becomes an outspoken critic of the regime, forced into leaving his beloved country to go into exile, to Switzerland, France and the U.S..
I was surprised by the strong feel of non-fiction in this 'fictional' account of Mann's life from Toibin, I really thought he would have given us a more richly imagined picture of his inner persona, his thoughts, desires and sexual yearnings, and the tragedies experienced by the family. I must admit I had little knowledge of Mann's life, and Toibin is certainly knowledgeable and informative, but I wanted my emotions and heart to be more engaged than they actually were. Having said that, I love Toibin's writing, some of the vibrant characterisations, the depiction of family life, and the philosophical aspects of the novel, and would certainly recommend this book to other readers, especially to those interested in this historical period and in Thomas Mann in particular. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
Mann is immersed in German culture, the music, and the literature, and shaped by his repressed sexuality, considering different versions of himself, with his crushes on young men. He is a man who finds himself living through the most politically turbulent of historical periods in his life, including WW1, although here there is a greater focus on WW2, right up to the Cold War. The chilling terrors of the rise of Nazism and Hitler take a little time to become apparent to Mann, members of his family, like his brother, Heinrich, are far quicker to comprehend the tragic dangers that are becoming all too clear. However, once Mann understands the growing power of Hitler, he becomes an outspoken critic of the regime, forced into leaving his beloved country to go into exile, to Switzerland, France and the U.S..
I was surprised by the strong feel of non-fiction in this 'fictional' account of Mann's life from Toibin, I really thought he would have given us a more richly imagined picture of his inner persona, his thoughts, desires and sexual yearnings, and the tragedies experienced by the family. I must admit I had little knowledge of Mann's life, and Toibin is certainly knowledgeable and informative, but I wanted my emotions and heart to be more engaged than they actually were. Having said that, I love Toibin's writing, some of the vibrant characterisations, the depiction of family life, and the philosophical aspects of the novel, and would certainly recommend this book to other readers, especially to those interested in this historical period and in Thomas Mann in particular. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
October 28, 2023
Note: I received a free copy of this book. In exchange here is my honest review.
A fictional story based strongly on reality/biography. 🤷🏼♀️ This book feels several chapters longer than necessary. The family is interesting (and entitled) enough- but it feels like I should know this main character more? 😐 There was plenty of opportunity to build more about this author, the man, himself- aside from his children’s sexual exploits. To be honest, I think I would have enjoyed an actual biography instead of this fictionalized version. 🤓
Thank you @goodreads and @simonandschuster #goodreadsgiveaway
A fictional story based strongly on reality/biography. 🤷🏼♀️ This book feels several chapters longer than necessary. The family is interesting (and entitled) enough- but it feels like I should know this main character more? 😐 There was plenty of opportunity to build more about this author, the man, himself- aside from his children’s sexual exploits. To be honest, I think I would have enjoyed an actual biography instead of this fictionalized version. 🤓
Thank you @goodreads and @simonandschuster #goodreadsgiveaway
July 15, 2021
I'm sorry to say that I didn't get on with this book at all. From the opening page when we hear of an 'August Leverkuhn' it seems clear that the book is going to interpret Mann's life as the source of his literary works (Adrian Leverkuhn is the protagonist of Mann's Doctor Faustus) a stance which, I feel, does a disservice to the imagination and reduces literature to a kind of heightened life, rather than art. That's especially the case with Mann whose books (at least the ones I've read: Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain) are far more complex, weaving in philosophical discussions and ideological debate as well as a sophisticated use of symbolism and figurative writing.
After an interesting start (I never knew Mann's mother was Brazilian) this book seems to just skim the surface: one minute Thomas is a young man forced into working for an insurance company, the next he's written Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, is a world-famous author and has won a Nobel prize ('I won the Nobel Prize in Literature,' Thomas said, 'I know what language Dante wrote in') - there's little sense of time passing though we're told it has ('the birth of Thomas's second child was followed three years later by the arrival of Golo') and hardly any significant insight into Mann's intellectual and psychological interests that are so manifest in his writing.
There's some homoerotic angst in the early chapters, and some very coy writing about sex where it's completely unclear what's happening, and no real insight into what Mann is feeling - then he decides to marry a woman, and we don't really know why or even know what happens on their wedding night: the book has them lying with Katia's nipples pressed into Thomas' chest... and then it's the next day. I don't mean to sound prurient here but what I'm trying to convey is that there's no sense of interiority about Mann as created in this book.
Even the political background is merely sketched in as WW1 is over and done with in a chapter, and the rise of Hitler is an external problem despite Mann having married into a Jewish family: 'Thomas began to lose hope that the regime might fall in Germany. The Nazis, he realised, were not like the poets of the Munich Revolution'. Instead, the character thinks 'it might be best to do nothing'.
It's clear from the afterword that Toibin has read a lot about Mann but somehow there's no sense of personality, of intellect or of feeling that inhabits the space demarked as 'Thomas Mann' in the novel - an avatar goes through the motions of Mann's life almost like a series of tick-boxes, but none of it feels lived. And the character of Mann presented here just doesn't track with the writer who so magisterially analysed ideologies and the soul of a 'sick' Europe in The Magic Mountain, a book which is also alight with a dynamic irony and a sense of humour, something never conveyed here. Perhaps the pressure to articulate the whole of a complex life that stretched from 1875-1955 was just too much. This is a book I was looking forward to hugely but after crawling through to 50% and finding it dry, 'told' and wooden, I'm abandoning it.
Apologies to Penguin who kindly provided me with an ARC via NetGalley.
After an interesting start (I never knew Mann's mother was Brazilian) this book seems to just skim the surface: one minute Thomas is a young man forced into working for an insurance company, the next he's written Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, is a world-famous author and has won a Nobel prize ('I won the Nobel Prize in Literature,' Thomas said, 'I know what language Dante wrote in') - there's little sense of time passing though we're told it has ('the birth of Thomas's second child was followed three years later by the arrival of Golo') and hardly any significant insight into Mann's intellectual and psychological interests that are so manifest in his writing.
There's some homoerotic angst in the early chapters, and some very coy writing about sex where it's completely unclear what's happening, and no real insight into what Mann is feeling - then he decides to marry a woman, and we don't really know why or even know what happens on their wedding night: the book has them lying with Katia's nipples pressed into Thomas' chest... and then it's the next day. I don't mean to sound prurient here but what I'm trying to convey is that there's no sense of interiority about Mann as created in this book.
Even the political background is merely sketched in as WW1 is over and done with in a chapter, and the rise of Hitler is an external problem despite Mann having married into a Jewish family: 'Thomas began to lose hope that the regime might fall in Germany. The Nazis, he realised, were not like the poets of the Munich Revolution'. Instead, the character thinks 'it might be best to do nothing'.
It's clear from the afterword that Toibin has read a lot about Mann but somehow there's no sense of personality, of intellect or of feeling that inhabits the space demarked as 'Thomas Mann' in the novel - an avatar goes through the motions of Mann's life almost like a series of tick-boxes, but none of it feels lived. And the character of Mann presented here just doesn't track with the writer who so magisterially analysed ideologies and the soul of a 'sick' Europe in The Magic Mountain, a book which is also alight with a dynamic irony and a sense of humour, something never conveyed here. Perhaps the pressure to articulate the whole of a complex life that stretched from 1875-1955 was just too much. This is a book I was looking forward to hugely but after crawling through to 50% and finding it dry, 'told' and wooden, I'm abandoning it.
Apologies to Penguin who kindly provided me with an ARC via NetGalley.
June 3, 2024
Now rather underwhelmingly the winner of the 2022 Folio Prize - against a longlist which featured Natasha Brown’s Assembly and Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These which in much less than a fifth of the length of this novel seems to achieve so, so much more.
This book is a well executed, comprehensive novelistic biography of the famous German author Thomas Mann but one which I found engaged my interest far more than my emotions or literary sensibilities.
This book was I suspect years in the conception (Colm Toibin wrote a detailed article on the Mann family – in particular his two oldest children Klaus and Erika - for the London Review of Books in 2008 – the article like so many LRB articles ostensibly a review of another author’s non-fiction book but instead a platform for the article’s author to include their own researches and ideas into the same topic). The acknowledgements to this novel also make it clear that the book has been meticulously researched.
Overall I found it a very interesting and largely engrossing account which despite its length I read over a 24 hour period (I actually found that the best way to keep track of the many characters).
I do not really know Thomas Mann at all or his stories (beyond a few of their titles and a very high level summary of them) and it was certainly interesting to read of his life – particularly the way that he bridged a tumultuous period in Germany’s history (from pre World War I, through the Munich revolution to the rise of the Nazis, through World War II and into the partition of the country) and yet one also of huge artistic progression in Germany and Austria across literature, opera and music – with many famous artists featuring in the book (not least Mann’s own extended family).
Mann himself did not come across that well in the novel to me – for all his literary brilliance always rather playing catch up with the world and seemingly taken by surprise by the dramatic and often terrible developments in Germany (one has the sense that his own rather privileged lifestyle as well as self-absorption in his own writing lead to a permanently unfulfilled belief in the triumph of reason and rationality and convention) – but this was nevertheless interesting.
I felt though always that I was effectively reading a non-fiction account in fictional clothing.
Now this approach removed much of what can make conventional non-fictional biographies both tedious (the lengthy footnotes and references, the constant setting out of the contrary views of previous biographers with the author’s own conclusions and occasional score-settling) and rather infuriating (the attempts to speculate on what the subject may have been feeling or may have experienced).
But what it failed to do, at least for me, was to really add sufficiently to the biographical form. Due to my limited knowledge of Thomas Mann I found myself using Wikipedia extensively in the early stages of the novel – just to get my bearings. And what I found was that very little in the novel seemed to be imagined – time and time again anecdotes set out (some of which I had assumed to be at least partly imaginary or created – typically say incidents in Mann’s life which inspired some of the more famous scenes or characters in his books or some of the relationships of the extended Mann family) were readily available on the internet as widely accepted factual detail. What I missed was the literary imagination of say an Ali Smith and her Seasonal Quartet (or say Jean Jean Frémon in “Now, Now Louison”) in allowing a real encounter with an artist and their work.
My thanks to Penguin Random House, Jonathan Cape for an ARC via NetGalley
This book is a well executed, comprehensive novelistic biography of the famous German author Thomas Mann but one which I found engaged my interest far more than my emotions or literary sensibilities.
This book was I suspect years in the conception (Colm Toibin wrote a detailed article on the Mann family – in particular his two oldest children Klaus and Erika - for the London Review of Books in 2008 – the article like so many LRB articles ostensibly a review of another author’s non-fiction book but instead a platform for the article’s author to include their own researches and ideas into the same topic). The acknowledgements to this novel also make it clear that the book has been meticulously researched.
Overall I found it a very interesting and largely engrossing account which despite its length I read over a 24 hour period (I actually found that the best way to keep track of the many characters).
I do not really know Thomas Mann at all or his stories (beyond a few of their titles and a very high level summary of them) and it was certainly interesting to read of his life – particularly the way that he bridged a tumultuous period in Germany’s history (from pre World War I, through the Munich revolution to the rise of the Nazis, through World War II and into the partition of the country) and yet one also of huge artistic progression in Germany and Austria across literature, opera and music – with many famous artists featuring in the book (not least Mann’s own extended family).
Mann himself did not come across that well in the novel to me – for all his literary brilliance always rather playing catch up with the world and seemingly taken by surprise by the dramatic and often terrible developments in Germany (one has the sense that his own rather privileged lifestyle as well as self-absorption in his own writing lead to a permanently unfulfilled belief in the triumph of reason and rationality and convention) – but this was nevertheless interesting.
I felt though always that I was effectively reading a non-fiction account in fictional clothing.
Now this approach removed much of what can make conventional non-fictional biographies both tedious (the lengthy footnotes and references, the constant setting out of the contrary views of previous biographers with the author’s own conclusions and occasional score-settling) and rather infuriating (the attempts to speculate on what the subject may have been feeling or may have experienced).
But what it failed to do, at least for me, was to really add sufficiently to the biographical form. Due to my limited knowledge of Thomas Mann I found myself using Wikipedia extensively in the early stages of the novel – just to get my bearings. And what I found was that very little in the novel seemed to be imagined – time and time again anecdotes set out (some of which I had assumed to be at least partly imaginary or created – typically say incidents in Mann’s life which inspired some of the more famous scenes or characters in his books or some of the relationships of the extended Mann family) were readily available on the internet as widely accepted factual detail. What I missed was the literary imagination of say an Ali Smith and her Seasonal Quartet (or say Jean Jean Frémon in “Now, Now Louison”) in allowing a real encounter with an artist and their work.
My thanks to Penguin Random House, Jonathan Cape for an ARC via NetGalley
Read
January 6, 2022To be, or not to be…
Well, I procrastinated à la Hamlet about writing a review of The Magician for days and days but eventually decided the nobler course was not to: why should I stick my reviewer's bodkin into the heart of an innocent book just because it didn't happen to please me. Let this book face the slings and arrows of goodreads fortune unhampered by my review words—and may it encounter laurel wreaths rather than arrows before it shuffles off the goodreads updates coil.
In any case, I've already discussed it a lot on other comment threads.
And in conscience, I have to admit that I'm a calamity at writing reviews when nothing in the book inspires any creative thoughts to help frame my words. Ay, there's the rub.
For anyone not familiar with Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy, here is the verse from which so many commonly used phrases have come:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
Well, I procrastinated à la Hamlet about writing a review of The Magician for days and days but eventually decided the nobler course was not to: why should I stick my reviewer's bodkin into the heart of an innocent book just because it didn't happen to please me. Let this book face the slings and arrows of goodreads fortune unhampered by my review words—and may it encounter laurel wreaths rather than arrows before it shuffles off the goodreads updates coil.
In any case, I've already discussed it a lot on other comment threads.
And in conscience, I have to admit that I'm a calamity at writing reviews when nothing in the book inspires any creative thoughts to help frame my words. Ay, there's the rub.
For anyone not familiar with Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy, here is the verse from which so many commonly used phrases have come:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
September 7, 2021
This story begins in Lübeck, Germany in the year 1891, when the population was around 64,000 people, the year before Sacred Heart Church was consecrated, and two years before the Museum am Dom was built. The world was expanding in population and ideologies, and Germany was, as well.
This begins with Thomas Mann as a young boy on a night his parents were entertaining friends in their home, as Thomas, his older brother Heinrich and sisters Lula and Carla looked over the event from the first landing, and Viktor, their baby brother, was sleeping upstairs. They watched as their mother made her entrance, at last, pausing for a moment to decide which guest to turn her attention to first, which would be the subject of much discussion the following day in town. A family of much influence.
From his young years, it’s clear that Thomas is very observant of those around him, as well as his surroundings, and appreciative of beauty in both the world as well as in the books he reads, and the stories his mother shares of her younger years growing up in Brazil, and the joys of her life there. In comparison, the people of Lübeck seem quite solemn to her.
Between the discipline his father instills in him, and the appreciation and attention given to observing life and people he has learned from his mother, he is drawn to the more artistic side and the beauty of life, and longs to develop his talents in that area. He lives in his own dream-like world, avoiding visiting his father’s office, preferring to spend his time alone, reading and dreaming of what he wants for his future. His love and appreciation of his mother and her beauty pulls him in one direction, the respect given to his father pulls him in another.
Eventually, he marries, becomes an author, and he and his wife have six children, although he continues to harbor a somewhat secretive attraction to men. As the political atmosphere thickens throughout Germany, and rumours abound, he makes the decision that they must leave and through connections he’s obtained as a now renowned author, he succeeds in having his family relocate to Switzerland, then France, and eventually to Princeton, New Jersey. America has avoided joining in this war, preferring to believe it is not a problem that affects them. Too late, America, along with the rest of the countries who had counted on it not affecting them, realizes what they are dealing with.
Another view of these unforgettable years of life in Germany, this story shares some of the horrors of those years from the observations of Mann, this is an incredibly immersive story. A viewpoint which is equally chilling as time passes and people remain relatively silent to protect themselves from being the next target of oppression executed by a tyrannical dictator with an agenda, and a following who were eager to do his bidding. It also shares the lives after, the effects on those who stayed, the destruction enacted, and the atmosphere that still seems to haunt all those who lived through it after.
’Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.’ - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
Published: 07 Sept 2021
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Simon & Schuster / Knopf
July 24, 2021
This is a novel about Thomas Mann out of whose extensive work I’ve only read one book - Death in Venice. It begins in Lübeck in 1891 where we witness young Thomas and his family especially the impact of his Brazilian born mother Julia on the serious and rather judgemental folk of the provincial city. This part is done very vividly and I rather like the wayward Julia! Thomas is a dreamy child, he has to pretend to interest in the family business which eldest brother Heinrich (also a writer) sees right through. Toibin traces the beginnings of his realisation of his sexual leanings, his early writing success, to marriage to Katia Pringshelm who bears him six children. It seems Katia turns a blind eye to Mann’s homosexuality. They relocate from Germany following the rise of Hitler and live in Switzerland, Southern France and then the USA. It’s an immersive, very ambitious family saga against a background of almost constant political turmoil. Mann takes a stand against fascism and takes an important role in broadcasts during World War Two. The title comes from the fact that Mann’s children call him The Magician and so you hope for some magic here ....
Whilst I can say this is exceptionally well written as you’d expect from an author of this stature and I can also say that I’ve learned a lot about his life, I also feel I don’t really KNOW Mann as a person. He remains elusive, a bit enigmatic, he’s shown as dignified, reflective, exceptionally intellectual and clever (of course) and the authors tone reflects this dignity really well. I wonder if the author has deliberately decided against too much inner man (sorry) because Thomas Mann chooses to wear a disguise for much of his life to hide his sexual leanings and suppress the real him??? It therefore has the feel of non-fiction, more a biography than a work of fiction. The liveliest bits centre around the family, Katia comes across clearly and especially vivid are children Klaus and Erika but all his children are portrayed well. Katia gives us some amusing insights into family life, running a home, managing a husband ‘locked in a dream’ with troublesome children- they sure are, especially Klaus and Erika!! They sure liven up pages, they’re certainly one offs!! The political sections especially the build up to World War Two are very well done and I enjoy those, it’s strange how such a clever man doesn’t read or perceive the reality of the situation in Hitler’s Germany until it’s almost too late.
Overall, I’m very glad I’ve read this but in places it is a bit of a slog because the pace rises and falls but as Mann and his family are fascinating it’s worth the effort.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin General, Viking for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
Whilst I can say this is exceptionally well written as you’d expect from an author of this stature and I can also say that I’ve learned a lot about his life, I also feel I don’t really KNOW Mann as a person. He remains elusive, a bit enigmatic, he’s shown as dignified, reflective, exceptionally intellectual and clever (of course) and the authors tone reflects this dignity really well. I wonder if the author has deliberately decided against too much inner man (sorry) because Thomas Mann chooses to wear a disguise for much of his life to hide his sexual leanings and suppress the real him??? It therefore has the feel of non-fiction, more a biography than a work of fiction. The liveliest bits centre around the family, Katia comes across clearly and especially vivid are children Klaus and Erika but all his children are portrayed well. Katia gives us some amusing insights into family life, running a home, managing a husband ‘locked in a dream’ with troublesome children- they sure are, especially Klaus and Erika!! They sure liven up pages, they’re certainly one offs!! The political sections especially the build up to World War Two are very well done and I enjoy those, it’s strange how such a clever man doesn’t read or perceive the reality of the situation in Hitler’s Germany until it’s almost too late.
Overall, I’m very glad I’ve read this but in places it is a bit of a slog because the pace rises and falls but as Mann and his family are fascinating it’s worth the effort.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin General, Viking for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
February 7, 2022
A masterpiece. Too many quotes, too many thoughts to share,... need time to find the words that can do justice to this magnificent fictionalized biography and its amazing writer. A book of the year.
I finally got around to write my review. Here it is.
Stylistically flawless and impeccably paced, this fictional biography of Thomas Mann is neither judgmental nor hagiographic, but admirably immersive into its subject, showing many years of extensive research and written with penetrating insights into complicated relations between Mann’s inner mind, as reflected in his fiction, essays, and diaries, and his outward public and family life. Toíbín’s story-telling is multi-layered and the novel also reads as a fascinating family saga, a historical tour de force through the political turmoils from World War I through the rise of fascism to the Cold War, all at once with penetrating literary insights into Mann’s major novels and stories (especially, Buddenbrooks, The Blood of the Walsungs [Wälsungenblut], Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, Felix Krull).
At one level, it’s a story of a man who found himself at the political crossroads in the most dramatic period of modern history, whose personality was too cautious to be as outspoken as his brother Heinrich or son Klaus, but who nonetheless had the moral fortitude to stand up to the darkness of fascism in his own way, through his rescue arrangements for all of his children and a score of friends, his refusals to be silenced, his difficult decision to part from his beloved Germany of Goethe the moment his naive hopes that Hitler would never seize power shattered, and above all in his writings, whether through allegories in his fiction or direct pleas to reason, freedom, and (social) democracy in his later speeches.
The book narrates the turbulent first half of the 20th century, from the upheavals in Germany and Europe, World War II to the McCarthyist witch-hunt in the early years of the Cold War, as mirrored in the destinies of the Mann family, their constant search for new citizenships and a sense of home as émigrés constantly on the move from Switzerland to France, back to Switzerland, then to America and again back to Switzerland (“he had been brutally hounded out of Germany and politely ushered out of America”).
It is also a family saga, first of the Manns in Lübeck with four siblings, two of whom eventually committed suicide (both sisters), one brother (Viktor) later comfortably living under Nazism while the other (Heinrich) hounded by the same regime but also in the perpetual sibling rivalry with Thomas, both over their literary merits and political beliefs …Thomas accused as too timid by Heinrich, Thomas in turn seeing Heinrich as too foolish in his radical leftist leanings. Then there is the family life with the in-laws Pringsheims, his wife Katia’s wealthy and cultivated family in Munich, their shared love of Wagner and Mahler (a family friend), the world of literature, arts, music, cafés and opera in Munich at the times of the nascent democracy but also chaos and inflation in the 1920s.
The heart of the family saga, however, is Thomas Mann’s life with his wife Katia and their six children, each of whom could be a subject of a separate novel, their escapades, follies, eccentricities, marriages, homosexual lovers, losses (Klaus committed suicide). None of them close to their father, under whose shadow as a literary giant their lives were defined as “lesser achievements”. Their father’s aloofness and retreat into the world of writing alienated them to never have a sense of gratitude for his financial support throughout their lives and his desperate search for their rescue from an almost certain death had they stayed in Germany. Leaving it to practical and protective Katia to discipline their children, he tried to endear them with humor and by playing tricks, hence their nickname for him ‘Magician’ remained for the rest of their lives. Toíbín masterfully gives voice to Katia, whose gentle yet formidable presence is felt throughout the novel. A mother who took care of their children’s upbringing while guarding her husband from intruders, she was practical, fearless, cosmopolitan, cultivated, humane, in some ways eccentric while in others traditional, her husband’s soulmate.
Besides entering the complicated world of the Mann family, we also retreat with him into his study, his inner life into which he escapes from the contradictions around him and inside him. It’s all reflected in his novels and stories and, if I were to highlight only one of many fascinating layers in this novel, it would be the magical skill with which Toíbín submerges himself into Mann’s creative writing in which Mann often sublimates his complicated relations with his children, extended family, other German émigrés, his own sexuality (his homoerotic infatuations), and disillusionment with his beloved Germany.
I found it impossible to single out illustrative quotes as there are too many, and one I initially had in mind would have almost extended to an entire chapter, which just shows how wholeheartedly I recommend everyone to read this book, whether familiar with Mann’s writings or not. That said, I’ll sample one illustration of how Toíbín interprets and describes the genesis of Mann’s Doctor Faustus, as a duality of himself at a psychological level but also Germany at a political level. The scene is at his house at the Pacific Palisades, while listening to Beethoven’s string quartet op. 132 (at his request) played by his son Michael and his quartet.
My thanks to Scribner for an ARC via NetGalley.
I finally got around to write my review. Here it is.
Stylistically flawless and impeccably paced, this fictional biography of Thomas Mann is neither judgmental nor hagiographic, but admirably immersive into its subject, showing many years of extensive research and written with penetrating insights into complicated relations between Mann’s inner mind, as reflected in his fiction, essays, and diaries, and his outward public and family life. Toíbín’s story-telling is multi-layered and the novel also reads as a fascinating family saga, a historical tour de force through the political turmoils from World War I through the rise of fascism to the Cold War, all at once with penetrating literary insights into Mann’s major novels and stories (especially, Buddenbrooks, The Blood of the Walsungs [Wälsungenblut], Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, Felix Krull).
At one level, it’s a story of a man who found himself at the political crossroads in the most dramatic period of modern history, whose personality was too cautious to be as outspoken as his brother Heinrich or son Klaus, but who nonetheless had the moral fortitude to stand up to the darkness of fascism in his own way, through his rescue arrangements for all of his children and a score of friends, his refusals to be silenced, his difficult decision to part from his beloved Germany of Goethe the moment his naive hopes that Hitler would never seize power shattered, and above all in his writings, whether through allegories in his fiction or direct pleas to reason, freedom, and (social) democracy in his later speeches.
The book narrates the turbulent first half of the 20th century, from the upheavals in Germany and Europe, World War II to the McCarthyist witch-hunt in the early years of the Cold War, as mirrored in the destinies of the Mann family, their constant search for new citizenships and a sense of home as émigrés constantly on the move from Switzerland to France, back to Switzerland, then to America and again back to Switzerland (“he had been brutally hounded out of Germany and politely ushered out of America”).
It is also a family saga, first of the Manns in Lübeck with four siblings, two of whom eventually committed suicide (both sisters), one brother (Viktor) later comfortably living under Nazism while the other (Heinrich) hounded by the same regime but also in the perpetual sibling rivalry with Thomas, both over their literary merits and political beliefs …Thomas accused as too timid by Heinrich, Thomas in turn seeing Heinrich as too foolish in his radical leftist leanings. Then there is the family life with the in-laws Pringsheims, his wife Katia’s wealthy and cultivated family in Munich, their shared love of Wagner and Mahler (a family friend), the world of literature, arts, music, cafés and opera in Munich at the times of the nascent democracy but also chaos and inflation in the 1920s.
The heart of the family saga, however, is Thomas Mann’s life with his wife Katia and their six children, each of whom could be a subject of a separate novel, their escapades, follies, eccentricities, marriages, homosexual lovers, losses (Klaus committed suicide). None of them close to their father, under whose shadow as a literary giant their lives were defined as “lesser achievements”. Their father’s aloofness and retreat into the world of writing alienated them to never have a sense of gratitude for his financial support throughout their lives and his desperate search for their rescue from an almost certain death had they stayed in Germany. Leaving it to practical and protective Katia to discipline their children, he tried to endear them with humor and by playing tricks, hence their nickname for him ‘Magician’ remained for the rest of their lives. Toíbín masterfully gives voice to Katia, whose gentle yet formidable presence is felt throughout the novel. A mother who took care of their children’s upbringing while guarding her husband from intruders, she was practical, fearless, cosmopolitan, cultivated, humane, in some ways eccentric while in others traditional, her husband’s soulmate.
Besides entering the complicated world of the Mann family, we also retreat with him into his study, his inner life into which he escapes from the contradictions around him and inside him. It’s all reflected in his novels and stories and, if I were to highlight only one of many fascinating layers in this novel, it would be the magical skill with which Toíbín submerges himself into Mann’s creative writing in which Mann often sublimates his complicated relations with his children, extended family, other German émigrés, his own sexuality (his homoerotic infatuations), and disillusionment with his beloved Germany.
I found it impossible to single out illustrative quotes as there are too many, and one I initially had in mind would have almost extended to an entire chapter, which just shows how wholeheartedly I recommend everyone to read this book, whether familiar with Mann’s writings or not. That said, I’ll sample one illustration of how Toíbín interprets and describes the genesis of Mann’s Doctor Faustus, as a duality of himself at a psychological level but also Germany at a political level. The scene is at his house at the Pacific Palisades, while listening to Beethoven’s string quartet op. 132 (at his request) played by his son Michael and his quartet.
There were two men that he did not become and he might make a book from them if he could conjure up their spirits properly. One was himself without his talent, without his ambition, but with the same sensibility. Someone fully at ease in a German democracy. A man who liked chamber music, lyric poetry, domestic quietness, gradual reform. A man, all conscience, who would have stayed in Germany even as Germany became barbaric, living a fearful life as an internal exile.Toward the end of the novel, Toíbín beautifully interpolates an episode from Bach’s famous visit to Buxtehude in Lübeck with Mann’s nostalgic reminiscences of his childhood, mother, siblings, the demolished Buddenbrook house, the vanished world of yesterday… I realized how much Toíbín succeeded to emotionally involve his reader with all of their lives that when I re-read the last pages, this time wanting to share them aloud with my SO, I was surprised that I had difficulty holding back my tears (don’t want to sound melodramatic, but that’s true).
The other man was someone who did not know caution, whose imagination was as fiery and uncompromising as his sexual appetite, a man who destroyed those who loved him, who sought to make an art that was austere and contemptuous of all tradition, an art as dangerous as the world coming into shape. A man who had been brushed by demons, whose talent was the result of a pact with demons.
[…] Music made him unstable. But as he followed the short movement with its lovely march beats and dance beats, and then the final movement with its lack of hesitancy, its flowing elegance, he felt that the two men he had imagined, the two shadow versions of who he was, would not leave him, as other such imaginings had left him. They would fit into what he had already been dreaming of, his book about a composer who, like Faust, formed a pact with the devil. [a few passages later]… It was the very culture itself, he thought, the actual culture that had formed him and people like him, that contained the seeds of its own destruction.
My thanks to Scribner for an ARC via NetGalley.
February 15, 2022
No beating around the bush. This novelized biography of Thomas Mann was a disappointment. I can't say that I wasn't warned. The first reviews written about this book after publication were so negative that I decided not to read it. But over time other people started to write very positive reviews. So I was a bit more interested then. But the real catalyst for my reading it was when a GR friend ( Fionnuala) read the book and wrote an excellent review. Even though she emphasized that she never got a sense of TM as a real person I wasn't warned off. I decided that I had to see for myself. I had read and enjoyed Toibin's Brooklyn. His fictional characters came to life. So why not non-fictional characters?
Eager to see how Toibin wrote about Mann I started to read with low expectations. The narrative flowed and kept my interest, particularly the parts about family life from boyhood through manhood. I especially enjoyed reading about Mann's mother and his wife. Both were fabulous women. His father's plans for his young son had nothing to do with writing. But the young writer was stubborn and prevailed. The stifling atmosphere of Lubeck, the seat of the Mann family, is very well described. Reading about Mann's childhood was interesting as was the family of six children he and Katia created.
The biggest problem I had with this novel is that I never felt like I got to know Thomas Mann the man. The Thomas Mann in this book never felt like a real person to me let alone the great German writer and Nobel Prize Winner. We are told from a 3rd person perspective about him and his writing, for instance. But his intellectual, philosophical and artistic ideas are non-existent. For the most part Mann's thoughts and feelings were non-existent ... with one notable exception. Toibin gives the reader access into Mann's most intimate feelings and thoughts about his sexual attraction and deep, often painful longing for young beautiful boys as well as the few blissful interactions (some sexual) that he had with two or three. If only we were given such intimate knowledge about all the other aspects of Mann's inner life.
Another problem I had with this book was that the narrative felt a bit like a chronicle of the personal and historical events that happened to and during Mann's life. Additionally, the narrative jumped from event to event often without any segue or explanation. One moment we're in one place. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a different place and time. Every time this happened I was reminded of how I felt when I'd read about the experience of time travel in Time and Again.
If anyone has an interest in reading this novel please take my review with a grain of salt and read other reviews. There are many which are very positive. I think my expectations were far higher for this book than I thought they were. Way too high.
Eager to see how Toibin wrote about Mann I started to read with low expectations. The narrative flowed and kept my interest, particularly the parts about family life from boyhood through manhood. I especially enjoyed reading about Mann's mother and his wife. Both were fabulous women. His father's plans for his young son had nothing to do with writing. But the young writer was stubborn and prevailed. The stifling atmosphere of Lubeck, the seat of the Mann family, is very well described. Reading about Mann's childhood was interesting as was the family of six children he and Katia created.
The biggest problem I had with this novel is that I never felt like I got to know Thomas Mann the man. The Thomas Mann in this book never felt like a real person to me let alone the great German writer and Nobel Prize Winner. We are told from a 3rd person perspective about him and his writing, for instance. But his intellectual, philosophical and artistic ideas are non-existent. For the most part Mann's thoughts and feelings were non-existent ... with one notable exception. Toibin gives the reader access into Mann's most intimate feelings and thoughts about his sexual attraction and deep, often painful longing for young beautiful boys as well as the few blissful interactions (some sexual) that he had with two or three. If only we were given such intimate knowledge about all the other aspects of Mann's inner life.
Another problem I had with this book was that the narrative felt a bit like a chronicle of the personal and historical events that happened to and during Mann's life. Additionally, the narrative jumped from event to event often without any segue or explanation. One moment we're in one place. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a different place and time. Every time this happened I was reminded of how I felt when I'd read about the experience of time travel in Time and Again.
If anyone has an interest in reading this novel please take my review with a grain of salt and read other reviews. There are many which are very positive. I think my expectations were far higher for this book than I thought they were. Way too high.
September 20, 2022
This is a beautiful novel about the life of German writer Thomas Mann and his wanderings around the time of World War II to find a place of safety for himself and his large family. Though a novel, there is a feeling of truth throughout this work and it helped me to understand better the genius of this writer. Anyone interested in the literary world would enjoy this book.
My thanks to the author, Colm Toibin, and the publisher, Simon & Schuster, for the ebook of this novel. I received this work through a Goodreads Giveaway.
My thanks to the author, Colm Toibin, and the publisher, Simon & Schuster, for the ebook of this novel. I received this work through a Goodreads Giveaway.
January 29, 2022
There will be a few stops on my route to the last page.
⭕️ STOP 4, TERMINAL
100%
January 29th, 2022
Finis coronat opus. Finally, I have some good news to report. The Magician got significantly better towards the end. The passages on music truly appealed to me. Moreover, one more wish has been granted: Katia came out of the shadow and her personality is not bland anymore in the finale. She even appeared in the last sentence of the novel.
The thing I have not mentioned so far which has been irking me from the beginning was the theatricality and stiffness of a few dialogues. I suspect Tóibín might have incorporated some extracts from letters and diaries into them. That could be the reason.
I wonder if Mann's nickname, The Magician, was really so commonly used by family members. It sounds a bit artificial, especially when you envision his teenage children referring to him like that. There might be some eye-rolling involved I am afraid.
The biggest shock for me in this part of the novel was one of Mann's sons, Michael's, letter to him which suggests that the family was dysfunctional and that Katia and Thomas were quite despicable parents: I am sure the world is grateful to you for the undivided attention you have given to your books, but we, your children, do not feel any gratitude to you, or indeed to our mother, who sat by your side. At times, the family Tóibín depicted seemed baffling indeed but definitely not as repelling as Michael described in his letter. I felt puzzled.
I imagine Tóibín's ambition was to depict Thomas Mann as a human being, with all his weaknesses, not as a marble statue of a moral authority and literary genius. In order to make him more accessible, Tóibín uses three methods:
✥ Exposing Mann's sexuality, being aware that he would have absolutely hated it, which I have already discussed.
✥ Ignoring Mann's extraordinary intellect and erudition. I have serious doubts if the person portrayed by Tóibín would have been capable of creating masterpieces like The Magic Mountain:
'He remembered that somewhere in Greek mythology the pomegranate had significance. It had to do with death, he thought, the underworld, but he was not sure. '
'The only irritant had been Auden, who had written a poem for the occasion that Thomas had scarcely understood.'
✥ Adding some humour which was most successful in my opinion.
There were things I adored in The Magician. Besides, I appreciate the time and effort Colm Tóibín invested in the research. The bibliography section at the end of the book is impressive. Now I definitely feel the urge to read and explore more books by Thomas Mann, some biographical materials also. Nevertheless, I do not suspect I will suffer from withdrawal symptoms. I finished the novel with relief as it disappointed me in a few aspects. I found it uneven, some parts seemed to be written in haste.
Huge thanks to everyone who accompanied me on this journey! Your comments and encouragement mean a lot. ❤️
Thomas Mann and his poodle, Hollywood, ca. 1946–47. Photo by George Platt Lynes.
⭕️ STOP 3
72%
January 23rd, 2022
'Katia came to his room to make sure that his tie was straight and his shoes suitably polished.' — how typical of Katia, who is portrayed by Tóibín as a cross between Moominmamma (with all respect due to Moomins whom I adore) and a professional housekeeper. No inner life, no intellectual desires besides learning English. Actually, no desires whatsoever. Her thoughtfulness is natural and remarkable but are we getting a full picture? What happened to the music and literature connoisseur, the eccentric and erudite bird of paradise we met at the beginning? Thoman Mann does not seem to be a person easy to get on with, the same goes for most of their six children, so sometimes Katia's angelic patience seems out of this world.
Katia and Thomas Mann in Sanary-sur-Mer, 1933. Photo by Annemarie Schwarzenbach.
⭕️ STOP 2
57%
January 22nd, 2022
Coincidentally, just after my complaint about scarce details of Thomas Mann's intellectual life, my dream came true and we were invited to his study and admired his collection of books! It was a short glimpse though. Still, the impression lingers that his humongous knowledge and erudition were absorbed by some kind of magic osmosis.
Colm Tóibín's intentions are still a mystery to me: he is fully aware that Mann would have been traumatized if details of his sexuality had been presented to strangers. His fear is explicit in the novel: 'His dreams about sex had made their way into stories and novels, but in fiction they could easily be interpreted as literary games. Since he was the father of six children, no one had ever openly accused him of private perversions. If published, however, the diaries would make clear who he was and what he dreamed about. They would show that his distant, bookish tone, his personal stiffness, his interest in being honoured and attended to, were masks designed to disguise base sexual desires.'
Nevertheless, Tóibín does exactly what the author of Buddenbroks was scared of and would have hated. For example, first, we read a detailed account of Mann's fascination with seventeen-year-old Klaus Heuser and then a scene depicting him burning a few pages of his diary with the description of this very infatuation follows.
Now we are galloping through history. The pace of narration got much faster which makes the novel more dynamic. Unfortunately, there is a price for it: we are just surfing over the topics I would be interested to explore deeper.
Erika and Klaus, two of Mann's children, are definitely stealing the show at the moment. I am fascinated by their eccentric personalities and numerous talents but, to be honest, sometimes they seem to be spoiled brats.
I am glad to admit that I am warming up to Mann. The breakthrough moment was his speech in Berlin when despite violent disruptions by fascists he went on anyway. And I loved Tóibín's descriptions of Thomas and Katia's enthusiastic efforts to learn English.
To be continued.
Thomas Mann and his daughter, Erika in Tulsa, in 1939. Photo by William Vandivert.
⭕️ STOP 1
25%
January 8th, 2022
My first impressions are very positive. Tóibín's prose is excellent. I especially like some multifaceted portrayals of characters, especially Julia and Katia. To be honest, I would prefer them to be in the spotlight as — at least for the time being — they seem much more interesting than horny and self-absorbed Mann. Besides, I am impressed by the way Tóibín depicts a complex relationship between Thomas and his brother, Heinrich, also a writer. What a subtle mixture of conflicting feelings! Another thing I adore is the way Tóibín conveys the creative process. It is fascinating to see how Thomas Mann transforms elements of reality into fiction, right in front of us. However, a few things keep bothering me.
I was really surprised that Tóibín's Mann had no doubts before marrying Katia Pringsheim. Is it possible that he faced absolutely no dilemma, being attracted to males so strongly that bystanders noticed that during parties? The year was 1905 so probably an honest conversation with Katia was out of the question but no thoughts in private about that, really? No worries that pretending, which he hated so much as a teenager, will be sanctioned and continuous from now on? I am fully aware that the idea of marriage was completely different then and being Katia's husband was very profitable for Thomas but I feel surprised there was no moment of hesitation. Of course, everything was happening with Katia's consent and it is clearly suggested that she knew about Mann's sexual preferences from the very beginning.
Another thing which I find strange: Tóibín's Mann shows almost no interest in intellectual activities besides writing, enjoying music, going to opera and occasionally reading a book. How come he wrote The Magic Mountain or Doctor Faustus, novels brimming with philosophy, erudition and cultural references? I would love to know what books he read, which authors shaped his talent, which philosophers influenced him? Does such vast knowledge appear suddenly out of nowhere? It does not, even if you are a magician. Tóibín invites us to Mann's bedroom with excessive hospitality. I would like to be invited to his study also.
To be continued. Thanks so much for your patience, dear travel companions. See you soon at Stop 2.
Katia Mann, 1905.
⭕️ STOP 4, TERMINAL
100%
January 29th, 2022
Finis coronat opus. Finally, I have some good news to report. The Magician got significantly better towards the end. The passages on music truly appealed to me. Moreover, one more wish has been granted: Katia came out of the shadow and her personality is not bland anymore in the finale. She even appeared in the last sentence of the novel.
The thing I have not mentioned so far which has been irking me from the beginning was the theatricality and stiffness of a few dialogues. I suspect Tóibín might have incorporated some extracts from letters and diaries into them. That could be the reason.
I wonder if Mann's nickname, The Magician, was really so commonly used by family members. It sounds a bit artificial, especially when you envision his teenage children referring to him like that. There might be some eye-rolling involved I am afraid.
The biggest shock for me in this part of the novel was one of Mann's sons, Michael's, letter to him which suggests that the family was dysfunctional and that Katia and Thomas were quite despicable parents: I am sure the world is grateful to you for the undivided attention you have given to your books, but we, your children, do not feel any gratitude to you, or indeed to our mother, who sat by your side. At times, the family Tóibín depicted seemed baffling indeed but definitely not as repelling as Michael described in his letter. I felt puzzled.
I imagine Tóibín's ambition was to depict Thomas Mann as a human being, with all his weaknesses, not as a marble statue of a moral authority and literary genius. In order to make him more accessible, Tóibín uses three methods:
✥ Exposing Mann's sexuality, being aware that he would have absolutely hated it, which I have already discussed.
✥ Ignoring Mann's extraordinary intellect and erudition. I have serious doubts if the person portrayed by Tóibín would have been capable of creating masterpieces like The Magic Mountain:
'He remembered that somewhere in Greek mythology the pomegranate had significance. It had to do with death, he thought, the underworld, but he was not sure. '
'The only irritant had been Auden, who had written a poem for the occasion that Thomas had scarcely understood.'
✥ Adding some humour which was most successful in my opinion.
There were things I adored in The Magician. Besides, I appreciate the time and effort Colm Tóibín invested in the research. The bibliography section at the end of the book is impressive. Now I definitely feel the urge to read and explore more books by Thomas Mann, some biographical materials also. Nevertheless, I do not suspect I will suffer from withdrawal symptoms. I finished the novel with relief as it disappointed me in a few aspects. I found it uneven, some parts seemed to be written in haste.
Huge thanks to everyone who accompanied me on this journey! Your comments and encouragement mean a lot. ❤️
Thomas Mann and his poodle, Hollywood, ca. 1946–47. Photo by George Platt Lynes.
⭕️ STOP 3
72%
January 23rd, 2022
'Katia came to his room to make sure that his tie was straight and his shoes suitably polished.' — how typical of Katia, who is portrayed by Tóibín as a cross between Moominmamma (with all respect due to Moomins whom I adore) and a professional housekeeper. No inner life, no intellectual desires besides learning English. Actually, no desires whatsoever. Her thoughtfulness is natural and remarkable but are we getting a full picture? What happened to the music and literature connoisseur, the eccentric and erudite bird of paradise we met at the beginning? Thoman Mann does not seem to be a person easy to get on with, the same goes for most of their six children, so sometimes Katia's angelic patience seems out of this world.
Katia and Thomas Mann in Sanary-sur-Mer, 1933. Photo by Annemarie Schwarzenbach.
⭕️ STOP 2
57%
January 22nd, 2022
Coincidentally, just after my complaint about scarce details of Thomas Mann's intellectual life, my dream came true and we were invited to his study and admired his collection of books! It was a short glimpse though. Still, the impression lingers that his humongous knowledge and erudition were absorbed by some kind of magic osmosis.
Colm Tóibín's intentions are still a mystery to me: he is fully aware that Mann would have been traumatized if details of his sexuality had been presented to strangers. His fear is explicit in the novel: 'His dreams about sex had made their way into stories and novels, but in fiction they could easily be interpreted as literary games. Since he was the father of six children, no one had ever openly accused him of private perversions. If published, however, the diaries would make clear who he was and what he dreamed about. They would show that his distant, bookish tone, his personal stiffness, his interest in being honoured and attended to, were masks designed to disguise base sexual desires.'
Nevertheless, Tóibín does exactly what the author of Buddenbroks was scared of and would have hated. For example, first, we read a detailed account of Mann's fascination with seventeen-year-old Klaus Heuser and then a scene depicting him burning a few pages of his diary with the description of this very infatuation follows.
Now we are galloping through history. The pace of narration got much faster which makes the novel more dynamic. Unfortunately, there is a price for it: we are just surfing over the topics I would be interested to explore deeper.
Erika and Klaus, two of Mann's children, are definitely stealing the show at the moment. I am fascinated by their eccentric personalities and numerous talents but, to be honest, sometimes they seem to be spoiled brats.
I am glad to admit that I am warming up to Mann. The breakthrough moment was his speech in Berlin when despite violent disruptions by fascists he went on anyway. And I loved Tóibín's descriptions of Thomas and Katia's enthusiastic efforts to learn English.
To be continued.
Thomas Mann and his daughter, Erika in Tulsa, in 1939. Photo by William Vandivert.
⭕️ STOP 1
25%
January 8th, 2022
My first impressions are very positive. Tóibín's prose is excellent. I especially like some multifaceted portrayals of characters, especially Julia and Katia. To be honest, I would prefer them to be in the spotlight as — at least for the time being — they seem much more interesting than horny and self-absorbed Mann. Besides, I am impressed by the way Tóibín depicts a complex relationship between Thomas and his brother, Heinrich, also a writer. What a subtle mixture of conflicting feelings! Another thing I adore is the way Tóibín conveys the creative process. It is fascinating to see how Thomas Mann transforms elements of reality into fiction, right in front of us. However, a few things keep bothering me.
I was really surprised that Tóibín's Mann had no doubts before marrying Katia Pringsheim. Is it possible that he faced absolutely no dilemma, being attracted to males so strongly that bystanders noticed that during parties? The year was 1905 so probably an honest conversation with Katia was out of the question but no thoughts in private about that, really? No worries that pretending, which he hated so much as a teenager, will be sanctioned and continuous from now on? I am fully aware that the idea of marriage was completely different then and being Katia's husband was very profitable for Thomas but I feel surprised there was no moment of hesitation. Of course, everything was happening with Katia's consent and it is clearly suggested that she knew about Mann's sexual preferences from the very beginning.
Another thing which I find strange: Tóibín's Mann shows almost no interest in intellectual activities besides writing, enjoying music, going to opera and occasionally reading a book. How come he wrote The Magic Mountain or Doctor Faustus, novels brimming with philosophy, erudition and cultural references? I would love to know what books he read, which authors shaped his talent, which philosophers influenced him? Does such vast knowledge appear suddenly out of nowhere? It does not, even if you are a magician. Tóibín invites us to Mann's bedroom with excessive hospitality. I would like to be invited to his study also.
To be continued. Thanks so much for your patience, dear travel companions. See you soon at Stop 2.
Katia Mann, 1905.
September 22, 2021
I didn’t know anything about Thomas Mann’s life, and I hadn’t realized that “Buddenbrooks” was, at least in part, autobiographical. This book is a fictional account of Mann’s life from his childhood to his death. He married, had six children, became a successful author and unsuccessfully hid his attraction to beautiful young men (including members of his family if this book is to be believed).
This book was slow and long, but it did hold my interest, however it wasn’t nearly as good as “Buddenbrooks”. I think that if I want to know more about Mann (which I don’t particularly want to do) I will read a nonfiction account. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
This book was slow and long, but it did hold my interest, however it wasn’t nearly as good as “Buddenbrooks”. I think that if I want to know more about Mann (which I don’t particularly want to do) I will read a nonfiction account. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
September 4, 2021
Colm Toibin brilliantly wrote The Magician which blended fact with fiction. It was an intimate exploration of the life of the intriguing and talented German author, Thomas Mann, best know for his literary contributions of Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain. Mann was the recipient of The Nobel Prize. Toibin traced Thomas Mann’s life beginning in 1891 and followed it through both World Wars, the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, as he escaped to America and finally came full circle when he made his way back to Europe.near the end of his life in the 1950’s.
Thomas Mann grew up in Lubeck, Germany with two brothers and two sisters. He was the second oldest son of a Brazilian born mother and domineering and strict German father. Thomas’s family was well liked, respected and lived a comfortable life. His father died at a young age of natural causes. Thomas’s homosexuality was quite apparent from the early years when he was in his teens. His mother wanted Thomas to learn a business after his father died. Thomas had no interest in doing this. He was determined to become a writer.
Thomas had been infatuated with Katia and her twin brother for years. He was able to get an introduction to Katia and an invitation to a party at her family’s home. Thomas was determined to marry Katia and she finally relented. They had six children together during their marriage. Katia and Thomas had an understanding from the very beginning. His novels earned Thomas recognition and eventually fame. He became a Noble Prize recipient. Thomas and Katia lived a quiet but comfortable life at their home in Munich. When Hitler came to power, Thomas and Katia knew that they had to escape Germany. Their lives were in jeopardy. Fortunately, Thomas, Katia and their children were able to escape from Germany. Thomas and Katia immigrated to America and settled in Princeton, New Jersey. Thomas was a man of routine and his routine rarely differed. His reputation and recognition became greater with each novel he wrote and each lecture he delivered. Eventually, Thomas and Katia moved to California and then to Switzerland when the repercussions of the Cold War became too taxing for the family. Thomas did visit Germany near the end of his life.
This was Colm Toibin’s tenth novel but the first that I have read. I was impressed with his execution, writing and research. He offered a window into Thomas Mann’s life and circumstances. I learned a lot about Thomas Mann as a person and the conflicts he struggled with throughout his life. His children and siblings were described in great detail. I enjoyed reading The Magician and recommend it very highly. Publication is September 7, 2021.
Thank you to Scribner Publishers for allowing me to read this digital version of The Magician through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thomas Mann grew up in Lubeck, Germany with two brothers and two sisters. He was the second oldest son of a Brazilian born mother and domineering and strict German father. Thomas’s family was well liked, respected and lived a comfortable life. His father died at a young age of natural causes. Thomas’s homosexuality was quite apparent from the early years when he was in his teens. His mother wanted Thomas to learn a business after his father died. Thomas had no interest in doing this. He was determined to become a writer.
Thomas had been infatuated with Katia and her twin brother for years. He was able to get an introduction to Katia and an invitation to a party at her family’s home. Thomas was determined to marry Katia and she finally relented. They had six children together during their marriage. Katia and Thomas had an understanding from the very beginning. His novels earned Thomas recognition and eventually fame. He became a Noble Prize recipient. Thomas and Katia lived a quiet but comfortable life at their home in Munich. When Hitler came to power, Thomas and Katia knew that they had to escape Germany. Their lives were in jeopardy. Fortunately, Thomas, Katia and their children were able to escape from Germany. Thomas and Katia immigrated to America and settled in Princeton, New Jersey. Thomas was a man of routine and his routine rarely differed. His reputation and recognition became greater with each novel he wrote and each lecture he delivered. Eventually, Thomas and Katia moved to California and then to Switzerland when the repercussions of the Cold War became too taxing for the family. Thomas did visit Germany near the end of his life.
This was Colm Toibin’s tenth novel but the first that I have read. I was impressed with his execution, writing and research. He offered a window into Thomas Mann’s life and circumstances. I learned a lot about Thomas Mann as a person and the conflicts he struggled with throughout his life. His children and siblings were described in great detail. I enjoyed reading The Magician and recommend it very highly. Publication is September 7, 2021.
Thank you to Scribner Publishers for allowing me to read this digital version of The Magician through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
September 9, 2021
Thomas Mann, acclaimed author of Death in Venice and many other books and novellas, is the focus of this book where fiction and nonfiction blend. This book begins with Thomas as a child growing up in a provincial German city. His father was conservative, and his mother was an alluring Brazilian woman. From an early age, he wanted to write. He was creative and artistic but that did not go over well with his father. He had to hide his writing and his sexuality. He eventually married Katia Pringshelm and they have six children. It is his children who referred to him as "The Magician"
Mann repressed his sexuality and crushes. One thing he did not repress was his writing ability and his success enabled him to move his family various times. He was a man who saw and experienced many things - political upheaval, world wars I & II, suicide, loss of loved ones, and success in his field. What a life he must have led. Hiding his homosexuality, having hidden crushes while being a husband and father in a world in constant upheaval.
There was a tremendous amount of research that went into the writing of this book. It is very evident, and this is the strength of this novel. What I would have liked more of Mann's thoughts, feelings, etc. This would have made this book more interesting to me.
I was all over the place with reviewing this book. The writing is top notch, and the research is impressive, but parts fell flat for me. I enjoyed this but didn't love it. I have never read a book by Thomas Mann - I know *gasp* perhaps if I had been a fan or even familiar with his work, I may have enjoyed this book more. I felt that I was being told about Mann (which I was) but I didn't really feel as if his personality shined through. I guess one could say that I wanted a little more pizzazz. I would have loved seeing Mann's inner thoughts and struggles. This is a long book and it felt long at times. Again, a little Pizzazz would have made this better for me.
Some are enjoying this more than I did so please read their reviews as well.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
Mann repressed his sexuality and crushes. One thing he did not repress was his writing ability and his success enabled him to move his family various times. He was a man who saw and experienced many things - political upheaval, world wars I & II, suicide, loss of loved ones, and success in his field. What a life he must have led. Hiding his homosexuality, having hidden crushes while being a husband and father in a world in constant upheaval.
There was a tremendous amount of research that went into the writing of this book. It is very evident, and this is the strength of this novel. What I would have liked more of Mann's thoughts, feelings, etc. This would have made this book more interesting to me.
I was all over the place with reviewing this book. The writing is top notch, and the research is impressive, but parts fell flat for me. I enjoyed this but didn't love it. I have never read a book by Thomas Mann - I know *gasp* perhaps if I had been a fan or even familiar with his work, I may have enjoyed this book more. I felt that I was being told about Mann (which I was) but I didn't really feel as if his personality shined through. I guess one could say that I wanted a little more pizzazz. I would have loved seeing Mann's inner thoughts and struggles. This is a long book and it felt long at times. Again, a little Pizzazz would have made this better for me.
Some are enjoying this more than I did so please read their reviews as well.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
December 4, 2021
An extraordinary book about the life of Thomas Mann. As far as I can gather it's well researched and I learned a lot. I looked at photos on the internet to support what I was reading which helped to visualise.
I must say I find Colm Toibin a little long-winded at times. I found some parts difficult to get through while I flew through others.
I must say I find Colm Toibin a little long-winded at times. I found some parts difficult to get through while I flew through others.
November 9, 2021
This beautifully written book is a fictionalized biography of Thomas Mann, the German author. It begins with Thomas as a school boy in Lubeck, son of a prominent family who will become even more well known when he publishes his first novel, Buddenbrooks, at the young age of 23. Encompassing most of his life, the Magician spans the years from 1891 to the early 1950s. Mann’s life and work had as its base the major events of those decades: World War I; the defeat of Germany accompanied by political and social instability and revolts; the rise and eventual takeover of Germany by the Nazi party; the Mann family in exile in Europe; Thomas Mann in the United States; the post WWII Cold War and return to Europe.
Against this background are the constants of Thomas’s life: his relationships with his family, his obsessive writing schedule, his wife Katia, and his longing for beautiful young men. These are all reflected in various ways in his novels, as are many of the historical events mentioned above. One of the features of this book that I really appreciated was the focus on Mann's state of mind and actual physical place as he was writing his major novels. Having read three of them, it added to my appreciation of each.
Thomas Mann was an obsessive diarist. How much of this material was physically available to Tobin I don't know but I imagine some of the material has become known over the years since his death and it features here. I very definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Thomas Mann. Anyone who appreciates Toibin's writing will also very likely enjoy this too. It was a joy to read.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Against this background are the constants of Thomas’s life: his relationships with his family, his obsessive writing schedule, his wife Katia, and his longing for beautiful young men. These are all reflected in various ways in his novels, as are many of the historical events mentioned above. One of the features of this book that I really appreciated was the focus on Mann's state of mind and actual physical place as he was writing his major novels. Having read three of them, it added to my appreciation of each.
Thomas Mann was an obsessive diarist. How much of this material was physically available to Tobin I don't know but I imagine some of the material has become known over the years since his death and it features here. I very definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Thomas Mann. Anyone who appreciates Toibin's writing will also very likely enjoy this too. It was a joy to read.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
November 23, 2021
The last pages here make this a powerful book: The Nobel-winning (1929) Thomas Mann left Germany because of his outspoken defiance of Hitler and settled in southern California. Then, the post-war authoritarian climate in Washington, D.C., forced him to pack up yet again in 1952 and move back to Europe, this time Switzerland, his last stop on the precarious refugee road.
Mann hoped to spend his final years in Pacific Palisades, Ca., home to a large emigre colony. He learned that many in Germany were vexed that he didnt wish to return there postwar2. "No one objected when I left in 1933," he says in this fact-fiction book, "but now they think I have a duty to return." Meantime, the 200th anniversary of Goethe was coming up; he would be giving lectures on this occasion here and abroad. His daughter Ericka did not want him to visit Germany. Always politically active, Ericka was astonished when German newspapers called her an agent of Stalin without any evidence. (I think of Hillary hurling similar charges against Tulsi Gabbard). Mann agreed to several Goethe lectures in Germany, 1949. It turned out that the US, exerting pressure, did not want him to lecture in East Germany at all. Since the German language was not separated into zones, Mann argued, he saw no reason why he should not visit every part of Germany. It would also emphasize, he felt, the essential unity of Germany. Anyway, off he went. Key figures in the US were outraged. Back in California, he found himself branded as a Communist. Agnes Meyer, the mother of Kay Graham, who unofficially "ran" the town as her husband owned the DC Post, told him that he was now referred to as "America's Fellow Traveler No. 1." A chunk of the mainstream media tarnished his reputation as a man of reason. It was far beneath his dignity to write to the newspapers to announce that he was not a Communist!
Soon the FBI interviewed Erika. She snapped : of course she was a lesbian, so was Queen Victoria and Eleanor Roosevelt and Mae West and Doris Day! The FBI was not amused. Author Toibin writes that for the first time in his life Mann had nothing to lose and no one to impress. He now had no desire to rest his bones in America. Yes, he could speak the truth, but there was another truth: he was no longer welcome in America. At one time his departure would have been headline news; not any more.
This book has a big cast of characters to keep track of. The story, with suggestions of incest, suicides and complicated lives, particularly that of Thomas Mann's own same sex lust, carries the melodrama of a Wagnerian opera. Author Toibin purposefully writes in a calm, emotionless style...which marvelously serves the personal and political narrative of chaotic, exploding worlds.
Mann hoped to spend his final years in Pacific Palisades, Ca., home to a large emigre colony. He learned that many in Germany were vexed that he didnt wish to return there postwar2. "No one objected when I left in 1933," he says in this fact-fiction book, "but now they think I have a duty to return." Meantime, the 200th anniversary of Goethe was coming up; he would be giving lectures on this occasion here and abroad. His daughter Ericka did not want him to visit Germany. Always politically active, Ericka was astonished when German newspapers called her an agent of Stalin without any evidence. (I think of Hillary hurling similar charges against Tulsi Gabbard). Mann agreed to several Goethe lectures in Germany, 1949. It turned out that the US, exerting pressure, did not want him to lecture in East Germany at all. Since the German language was not separated into zones, Mann argued, he saw no reason why he should not visit every part of Germany. It would also emphasize, he felt, the essential unity of Germany. Anyway, off he went. Key figures in the US were outraged. Back in California, he found himself branded as a Communist. Agnes Meyer, the mother of Kay Graham, who unofficially "ran" the town as her husband owned the DC Post, told him that he was now referred to as "America's Fellow Traveler No. 1." A chunk of the mainstream media tarnished his reputation as a man of reason. It was far beneath his dignity to write to the newspapers to announce that he was not a Communist!
Soon the FBI interviewed Erika. She snapped : of course she was a lesbian, so was Queen Victoria and Eleanor Roosevelt and Mae West and Doris Day! The FBI was not amused. Author Toibin writes that for the first time in his life Mann had nothing to lose and no one to impress. He now had no desire to rest his bones in America. Yes, he could speak the truth, but there was another truth: he was no longer welcome in America. At one time his departure would have been headline news; not any more.
This book has a big cast of characters to keep track of. The story, with suggestions of incest, suicides and complicated lives, particularly that of Thomas Mann's own same sex lust, carries the melodrama of a Wagnerian opera. Author Toibin purposefully writes in a calm, emotionless style...which marvelously serves the personal and political narrative of chaotic, exploding worlds.
November 16, 2022
'El Mago' es el nombre cariñoso que le daban sus hijos a Thomas Mann, debido a la capacidad que tenía de sorprenderlos con sus juegos de manos y sus salidas inesperadas. Pero aquí el verdadero Mago es Colm Tóibín, que ha logrado hacer una biografía apasionante de un hombre cuya actividad principal era encerrarse en su despacho a leer y escribir.
Él había alcanzado un gran equilibrio. Pulcro y bien afeitado, sentado en el salón de su suntuosa casa, con su traje y su corbata, rodeado de su familia, con sus libros alineados en los estantes del gabinete con el mismo respeto al orden que sus pensamientos y su actitud ante la vida, bien podría haber sido un empresario.
¿En qué consiste entonces la magia de esta biografía, que me ha hecho leerla como si fuera un thriller? Creo que hay tres factores importantes:
1. La época turbulenta que le tocó vivir, que es el telón de fondo de toda su vida. En contraste con su espíritu patriótico y sus soflamas de la primera guerra, su actitud frente al nazismo fue escéptica, aunque intentó no involucrarse:
No hablaba de política en sus presentaciones, pero la mera presencia de un alemán que se mantenía al margen de la refriega y escribía libros admirados en todo el mundo hacía que aquellos actos parecieran misteriosas asambleas de la oposición donde el alma inmaculada de Alemania hallaba descanso.
2. Su familia y su entorno. En particular su mujer y sus seis hijos conforman un universo complicado e imprevisible, buen reflejo de una época de cambio y profundas transformaciones sociales. También sus hermanos y sus relaciones tienen perfiles intrigantes, muchos merecerían una novela para contar su historia. Continuamente nos deja con ganas de saber más de todos ellos, personajes potentes enfrentados a una época difícil. Por otro lado, Tóbín no ahorra temas escabrosos, ya que las relaciones fueron difíciles y en muchos casos ofrece fragmentos de cartas o diarios en que se reflejan las tensiones con toda su crudeza:
Estoy seguro de que el mundo le agradece su entrega absoluta a sus libros, pero nosotros, sus hijos, no sentimos ninguna gratitud hacia usted, y tampoco hacia nuestra madre, que está a su lado. Cuesta creer que ambos se quedaran en su hotel de lujo mientras se daba sepultura a mi hermano.
3. Finalmente, la homosexualidad reprimida de Mann, que reflejó abiertamente en sus diarios y que supuso una lucha constante entre su imagen de hombre equilibrado de familia y sus deseos profundos. Él es el personaje de La muerte en Venecia que perece por amor a un muchacho entrevisto en la playa. Esta dinámica, que su entorno de alguna manera intuía, hace que el hombre tranquilo e imperturbable sea en realidad un volcán de pasiones inconfesables, que sólo puede ser él mismo cuando se encierra en su estudio.
En conjunto, una muy buena lectura, interesante y bien escrita. Y sí, aunque los he evitado largamente hasta ahora, me voy a poner con Los Buddenbrook y La montaña mágica, pero ya.
Él había alcanzado un gran equilibrio. Pulcro y bien afeitado, sentado en el salón de su suntuosa casa, con su traje y su corbata, rodeado de su familia, con sus libros alineados en los estantes del gabinete con el mismo respeto al orden que sus pensamientos y su actitud ante la vida, bien podría haber sido un empresario.
¿En qué consiste entonces la magia de esta biografía, que me ha hecho leerla como si fuera un thriller? Creo que hay tres factores importantes:
1. La época turbulenta que le tocó vivir, que es el telón de fondo de toda su vida. En contraste con su espíritu patriótico y sus soflamas de la primera guerra, su actitud frente al nazismo fue escéptica, aunque intentó no involucrarse:
No hablaba de política en sus presentaciones, pero la mera presencia de un alemán que se mantenía al margen de la refriega y escribía libros admirados en todo el mundo hacía que aquellos actos parecieran misteriosas asambleas de la oposición donde el alma inmaculada de Alemania hallaba descanso.
2. Su familia y su entorno. En particular su mujer y sus seis hijos conforman un universo complicado e imprevisible, buen reflejo de una época de cambio y profundas transformaciones sociales. También sus hermanos y sus relaciones tienen perfiles intrigantes, muchos merecerían una novela para contar su historia. Continuamente nos deja con ganas de saber más de todos ellos, personajes potentes enfrentados a una época difícil. Por otro lado, Tóbín no ahorra temas escabrosos, ya que las relaciones fueron difíciles y en muchos casos ofrece fragmentos de cartas o diarios en que se reflejan las tensiones con toda su crudeza:
Estoy seguro de que el mundo le agradece su entrega absoluta a sus libros, pero nosotros, sus hijos, no sentimos ninguna gratitud hacia usted, y tampoco hacia nuestra madre, que está a su lado. Cuesta creer que ambos se quedaran en su hotel de lujo mientras se daba sepultura a mi hermano.
3. Finalmente, la homosexualidad reprimida de Mann, que reflejó abiertamente en sus diarios y que supuso una lucha constante entre su imagen de hombre equilibrado de familia y sus deseos profundos. Él es el personaje de La muerte en Venecia que perece por amor a un muchacho entrevisto en la playa. Esta dinámica, que su entorno de alguna manera intuía, hace que el hombre tranquilo e imperturbable sea en realidad un volcán de pasiones inconfesables, que sólo puede ser él mismo cuando se encierra en su estudio.
En conjunto, una muy buena lectura, interesante y bien escrita. Y sí, aunque los he evitado largamente hasta ahora, me voy a poner con Los Buddenbrook y La montaña mágica, pero ya.
May 4, 2022
I am very late to this one since I didn't want to pay a full hardback price for a book that attracted such mixed reviews, and by the time I got hold of the paperback I was busy reading various prize longlists.
This book came as a rather pleasant antidote to the kind of books that most prize judges favour, and because I have read and enjoyed three of Mann's longer novels (The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus and Buddenbrooks) I never found it boring, though it does perhaps signpost some of the characters and events that inspired his works rather too obviously, and it may be too superficial for some. Mann does not emerge as very likeable, but what artist does when subjected to scrutiny? And yes, the events he lived through have been thoroughly documented elsewhere, but I wasn't aware of the family dynamics or more than vaguely aware of his children's lives.
This book came as a rather pleasant antidote to the kind of books that most prize judges favour, and because I have read and enjoyed three of Mann's longer novels (The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus and Buddenbrooks) I never found it boring, though it does perhaps signpost some of the characters and events that inspired his works rather too obviously, and it may be too superficial for some. Mann does not emerge as very likeable, but what artist does when subjected to scrutiny? And yes, the events he lived through have been thoroughly documented elsewhere, but I wasn't aware of the family dynamics or more than vaguely aware of his children's lives.
August 16, 2021
The Magician tells the life story of Thomas Mann, an early-to-mid 20th century German writer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel The Magic Mountain, and who was later revealed to be gay (or at least bisexual), following the unsealing of his diaries in the late 1990s, several decades after his death.
Colm Toibin (himself a gay novelist, which might have informed/drawn him to this project?) has clearly done his research for this novel, and covers the periods of Mann’s major works: Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, and Felix Krull. We see Mann discover his sexuality as a teenager and become involved with several men, before meeting his wife Katia, and then his homosexuality seems to be confined to his diaries, though it does feature in his work (most notably in Death in Venice).
Together they had six children: Erika, Klaus (both of whom were also gay but out and not closeted like their dad), Golo, Monika, Elizabeth, and Michael, and lived through both world wars. The Manns did better than most through the post-WW1 inflation years in Germany, thanks to Thomas’ books selling well abroad, but the family fled the country once Hitler rose to power, eventually settling in America until returning to Europe after the war.
I didn’t know much about Thomas Mann before this so everything in The Magician was new to me, and I thought it was all really interesting stuff. Toibin picks the most compelling times in Mann’s life to write about so the narrative is consistently engaging throughout. He’s also wonderfully adept at characterisation, bringing Mann’s family and the times they were alive in convincingly to life, so that you get a strong idea of who they were like as people, as well as what life was like during late 19th century Germany, the Weimar Republic, the war years in America, and Europe in the aftermath of WW2.
The only real criticism I would give the novel is that, ironically, Thomas Mann himself, despite being the subject of the novel, remains somewhat inscrutable even after all of it. As well as Toibin does in writing all of the characters in this novel, I left the novel not really knowing what to make of Thomas. When his son Michael speaks to him as an adult, there’s palpable bitterness and hatred from the son to his father, which was surprising because Toibin didn’t really show us any scenes where Thomas was a bad father that would explain Michael’s animosity towards his dad.
Yes, it is mentioned in passing by Katia that Thomas is a distant father who doesn’t really play with his children (though he does do magic tricks at the dinner table for them when they’re young - hence the title), so I guess that explains why Michael (really all of Thomas’ children) didn’t like their dad? It’s odd because you don’t get the sense, until the scenes when the children are grown up, that Thomas failed them in any serious way, and I think that’s due to Toibin not writing anything to indicate that.
So why omit scenes that would let us know Thomas better? Perhaps Toibin thought that by making Mann distant, he would be true to the person and that this was the best representation of his character. It’s not to say that there is no insight into his inner life - there is, particularly with his enduring fascination with young men - but I was expecting Toibin to delve deeper into Mann than stay more or less surface level. You expect to come away from a novel about a person having a fuller understanding of who they were than not, and he could’ve done that with fiction, rather than stay so steadfastly within the boundaries of nonfiction. It feels like a wasted opportunity.
The overall effect is a bit like Toibin almost wrote a nonfiction biography here. The novel aspects make it seem like those documentaries which include occasional dramatised scenes featuring actors because no footage exists. It’s not a huge complaint but it’s worth mentioning anyway.
Overall, I really enjoyed the novel. Thomas Mann led an interesting life during tumultuous times and Toibin takes us through it with smooth prose and engaging storytelling, full of illuminating details. Colm Toibin’s The Magician is well worth checking out for anyone interested in the writer and/or well-written and accessible historical/biographical novels.
Colm Toibin (himself a gay novelist, which might have informed/drawn him to this project?) has clearly done his research for this novel, and covers the periods of Mann’s major works: Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, and Felix Krull. We see Mann discover his sexuality as a teenager and become involved with several men, before meeting his wife Katia, and then his homosexuality seems to be confined to his diaries, though it does feature in his work (most notably in Death in Venice).
Together they had six children: Erika, Klaus (both of whom were also gay but out and not closeted like their dad), Golo, Monika, Elizabeth, and Michael, and lived through both world wars. The Manns did better than most through the post-WW1 inflation years in Germany, thanks to Thomas’ books selling well abroad, but the family fled the country once Hitler rose to power, eventually settling in America until returning to Europe after the war.
I didn’t know much about Thomas Mann before this so everything in The Magician was new to me, and I thought it was all really interesting stuff. Toibin picks the most compelling times in Mann’s life to write about so the narrative is consistently engaging throughout. He’s also wonderfully adept at characterisation, bringing Mann’s family and the times they were alive in convincingly to life, so that you get a strong idea of who they were like as people, as well as what life was like during late 19th century Germany, the Weimar Republic, the war years in America, and Europe in the aftermath of WW2.
The only real criticism I would give the novel is that, ironically, Thomas Mann himself, despite being the subject of the novel, remains somewhat inscrutable even after all of it. As well as Toibin does in writing all of the characters in this novel, I left the novel not really knowing what to make of Thomas. When his son Michael speaks to him as an adult, there’s palpable bitterness and hatred from the son to his father, which was surprising because Toibin didn’t really show us any scenes where Thomas was a bad father that would explain Michael’s animosity towards his dad.
Yes, it is mentioned in passing by Katia that Thomas is a distant father who doesn’t really play with his children (though he does do magic tricks at the dinner table for them when they’re young - hence the title), so I guess that explains why Michael (really all of Thomas’ children) didn’t like their dad? It’s odd because you don’t get the sense, until the scenes when the children are grown up, that Thomas failed them in any serious way, and I think that’s due to Toibin not writing anything to indicate that.
So why omit scenes that would let us know Thomas better? Perhaps Toibin thought that by making Mann distant, he would be true to the person and that this was the best representation of his character. It’s not to say that there is no insight into his inner life - there is, particularly with his enduring fascination with young men - but I was expecting Toibin to delve deeper into Mann than stay more or less surface level. You expect to come away from a novel about a person having a fuller understanding of who they were than not, and he could’ve done that with fiction, rather than stay so steadfastly within the boundaries of nonfiction. It feels like a wasted opportunity.
The overall effect is a bit like Toibin almost wrote a nonfiction biography here. The novel aspects make it seem like those documentaries which include occasional dramatised scenes featuring actors because no footage exists. It’s not a huge complaint but it’s worth mentioning anyway.
Overall, I really enjoyed the novel. Thomas Mann led an interesting life during tumultuous times and Toibin takes us through it with smooth prose and engaging storytelling, full of illuminating details. Colm Toibin’s The Magician is well worth checking out for anyone interested in the writer and/or well-written and accessible historical/biographical novels.
July 21, 2021
not entirely sure what Tóibín was going for here, there's too much straight biography to be a novel, too much novel to be a biography. he also seems to have entirely sacrificed his authorial voice/style in order to create this book, not to say it is badly written but if I read it blind I'd never have guessed it was Tóibín. however it is extremely fun, particularly when Tóibín gets a chance to ventriloquise figures such as Auden and Isherwood. clearly a passion project from Colm. good for him.
July 15, 2021
A Goodreads friend expertly summed up my feeling about The Magician: at the end of the day, I felt I was reading a non-fiction account in fictional clothing.
Nicknamed The Magician by his children, Thomas Mann remains a well-respected writer and his novels have stood the test of time. I know his books but never knew much about his background: his pretentious mother, his burning desire to become a writer, his marriage to a wealthy, Jewish and boy-like wife (while his proclivities were more towards his wife’s beautiful twin brother), and his unconventional partnership which produced six children.
Juxtaposed with the story of his life is the story of Germany—its sparking of two World Wars, and Mann’s own loss of his homes and exile to America.
Colm Toibin has obviously done exhaustive research but as a reader of fiction I wanted more I wanted Thomas Mann’s inner thoughts to come alive and I wanted Colm Toibin to imagine Mann as well as narrate his life. This novel deserves kudos for its contribution of a greater understanding of the forces and circumstances that created Thomas Mann. As a result, it will appeal to readers who appreciate that kind of scholarly reportage.
Thank you to Scribner for allowing me to be an early reader of this ambitious and in many ways, masterly novel.
Nicknamed The Magician by his children, Thomas Mann remains a well-respected writer and his novels have stood the test of time. I know his books but never knew much about his background: his pretentious mother, his burning desire to become a writer, his marriage to a wealthy, Jewish and boy-like wife (while his proclivities were more towards his wife’s beautiful twin brother), and his unconventional partnership which produced six children.
Juxtaposed with the story of his life is the story of Germany—its sparking of two World Wars, and Mann’s own loss of his homes and exile to America.
Colm Toibin has obviously done exhaustive research but as a reader of fiction I wanted more I wanted Thomas Mann’s inner thoughts to come alive and I wanted Colm Toibin to imagine Mann as well as narrate his life. This novel deserves kudos for its contribution of a greater understanding of the forces and circumstances that created Thomas Mann. As a result, it will appeal to readers who appreciate that kind of scholarly reportage.
Thank you to Scribner for allowing me to be an early reader of this ambitious and in many ways, masterly novel.
March 30, 2022
I was swept up in the captivating saga of The Magician by Colm Toibin!
Based on Thomas Mann's life - a beautifully written and fascinating history of an important time told though the exploits of one extraordinary family.
Well developed characters with complex yet interesting relationships.
The audiobook was outstanding!
Based on Thomas Mann's life - a beautifully written and fascinating history of an important time told though the exploits of one extraordinary family.
Well developed characters with complex yet interesting relationships.
The audiobook was outstanding!
January 23, 2022
I've been reading Thomas Mann and reading about Mann and watched a couple of documentaries so was familiar with the broad outlines of the story laid out in this novel. There is much to go through, over 80 years of Mann's lifetime, including two world wars, plus the extended family history. The Manns themselves, Thomas and Katia, had six children, and the two oldest, Klaus Mann and Erika Mann, were strong personalities who pretended to be twins, and who were perhaps most vibrantly active in the 1920s; I've also watched a documentary about Klaus and Erika ("Escape to Life" based on their essays in Escape To Life. Deutsche Kultur Im Exil).
So. There is much going on, perhaps too much for one novel. All of this to somehow explain that I felt a little disappointed with this novelistic biography, or this biographical novel. It was interesting but felt a little bit flat, or detached, like we were always hovering over events rather than in their midst. I wondered if this detachment was deliberate, a means of evoking Thomas Mann's method of examining the world from his cool distance.
In a way I was expecting a biographical novel at the level of The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov which was vivid and evocative. The Magician is not vivid and evocative at the level of the sentence, or the scene, but does weave a spell and convey a sense of history, the conflict between attachments and impermanence, and a lifelong experience of alienation and estrangement.
Despite my critique, I did admire the book and have enjoyed seeing the author read from it. The novel is an achievement, and my review probably lacks a certain generosity because my head was cluttered with contrary tidbits and competing formulations regarding this complex and contradictory family.
4.5 stars rounded down because somewhere I saw the author read from the ending of his book, and that spoiled things, just a little. Perhaps it was at the Mann House in Pacific Palisades in California, which is worth watching to see more of the house, if you don't mind some spoilers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9uYe...
So. There is much going on, perhaps too much for one novel. All of this to somehow explain that I felt a little disappointed with this novelistic biography, or this biographical novel. It was interesting but felt a little bit flat, or detached, like we were always hovering over events rather than in their midst. I wondered if this detachment was deliberate, a means of evoking Thomas Mann's method of examining the world from his cool distance.
In a way I was expecting a biographical novel at the level of The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov which was vivid and evocative. The Magician is not vivid and evocative at the level of the sentence, or the scene, but does weave a spell and convey a sense of history, the conflict between attachments and impermanence, and a lifelong experience of alienation and estrangement.
Despite my critique, I did admire the book and have enjoyed seeing the author read from it. The novel is an achievement, and my review probably lacks a certain generosity because my head was cluttered with contrary tidbits and competing formulations regarding this complex and contradictory family.
4.5 stars rounded down because somewhere I saw the author read from the ending of his book, and that spoiled things, just a little. Perhaps it was at the Mann House in Pacific Palisades in California, which is worth watching to see more of the house, if you don't mind some spoilers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9uYe...
September 29, 2021
The Magician is the fictional biographical account of Thomas Mann. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain.
Unfortunately I have not read either one. This book reads more like a biography than a novel. It is filled with details and descriptions of the time and place.
Thomas Mann was very good at hiding his true feelings. He keeps sexual preferences a secret and marries and has 6 children I enjoyed very much the vivid characterizations of his family. His children called him The Magician as he would show them tricks and magic.
It was very interesting about his experiences during the war, being German having to escape to the US.
It was very well researched but drags on and on in places with mundane details. I felt I didn’t know who Thomas Mann really was. He seemed to suppress his feelings and went on with life. I would have liked to known more of the inner self of Thomas Mann.
Unfortunately I have not read either one. This book reads more like a biography than a novel. It is filled with details and descriptions of the time and place.
Thomas Mann was very good at hiding his true feelings. He keeps sexual preferences a secret and marries and has 6 children I enjoyed very much the vivid characterizations of his family. His children called him The Magician as he would show them tricks and magic.
It was very interesting about his experiences during the war, being German having to escape to the US.
It was very well researched but drags on and on in places with mundane details. I felt I didn’t know who Thomas Mann really was. He seemed to suppress his feelings and went on with life. I would have liked to known more of the inner self of Thomas Mann.
April 24, 2022
I do not say this lightly but I truly don’t understand why this book was written
January 26, 2022
4.5 stars
Colm Tóibín’s The Magician is a masterful novel of Thomas Mann. Rather than covering Mann’s life in entirety, the novel zeroes in on important periods that bring to Mann and his family great changes and upheavals. These are many and severe, including those set in motion by World War I, the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the Cold War.
The novel’s central tension pits Mann’s life as an artist against his life as a family man and public citizen. The distance between these different realms is underscored by the sanctity of Mann’s office, into which he retreats every morning to write. He is not to be disturbed when working—it’s an ironclad rule. If a personal or professional crisis occurs when he’s away from his office, his first instinct is to head back into it, thereby avoiding having to deal with the crisis. It’s his children who give him the nickname “the Magician,” precisely because of his skills at avoidance and manipulation. As becomes clear as the novel develops, Mann sees himself as a humane man of reason and rationality (particularly as an artist) all the while that he does all he can to avoid difficult situations that demand that he act on those principles. As his renown grows, he uses his immense reputation to cloak his inner weakness and confusion—and his erotic desires. Perhaps his most revealing act in this regard comes during his momentous European lecture tour after World War II that has him scheduled to return to Germany for the first time since he had years earlier fled the Nazis. During the trip, one of his sons dies in Italy and Mann must decide whether to continue the tour or go to his son’s funeral. A lot is at stake, professionally and personally; and rather than deciding for himself, forthrightly confronting the dilemma pitting professional success versus family responsibility, he repeatedly begs off, asking family members traveling with him to make the decision.
Late in the novel, Mann appears less the magician than the confidence man, as he admits that of all characters that he has created, he feels the most connected with Felix Krull, the trickster, described as “the dodger, the one who got away with things, the one at the edge of the action picking the pockets of those who were inattentive.” When François Mauriac, honoring Mann on his eightieth birthday, sends him an encomium, “His life illustrated his work,” Mann immediately thinks of Felix Krull and smiles at how little Mauriac knows him.
There’s so much to like about The Magician. It’s deeply observant about Mann and his work (though I wish Tóibín would have done even more with the fiction) and it is extremely well-written. Tóibín’s prose is elegant without being showy, without drawing attention to itself. Written with few metaphors and virtually no stylistic fireworks, the clean prose in a sense disappears, giving the impression that you’re experiencing the characters directly, as if watching from a window—or, maybe better, given Mann’s proclivities, a trick mirror.
Colm Tóibín’s The Magician is a masterful novel of Thomas Mann. Rather than covering Mann’s life in entirety, the novel zeroes in on important periods that bring to Mann and his family great changes and upheavals. These are many and severe, including those set in motion by World War I, the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the Cold War.
The novel’s central tension pits Mann’s life as an artist against his life as a family man and public citizen. The distance between these different realms is underscored by the sanctity of Mann’s office, into which he retreats every morning to write. He is not to be disturbed when working—it’s an ironclad rule. If a personal or professional crisis occurs when he’s away from his office, his first instinct is to head back into it, thereby avoiding having to deal with the crisis. It’s his children who give him the nickname “the Magician,” precisely because of his skills at avoidance and manipulation. As becomes clear as the novel develops, Mann sees himself as a humane man of reason and rationality (particularly as an artist) all the while that he does all he can to avoid difficult situations that demand that he act on those principles. As his renown grows, he uses his immense reputation to cloak his inner weakness and confusion—and his erotic desires. Perhaps his most revealing act in this regard comes during his momentous European lecture tour after World War II that has him scheduled to return to Germany for the first time since he had years earlier fled the Nazis. During the trip, one of his sons dies in Italy and Mann must decide whether to continue the tour or go to his son’s funeral. A lot is at stake, professionally and personally; and rather than deciding for himself, forthrightly confronting the dilemma pitting professional success versus family responsibility, he repeatedly begs off, asking family members traveling with him to make the decision.
Late in the novel, Mann appears less the magician than the confidence man, as he admits that of all characters that he has created, he feels the most connected with Felix Krull, the trickster, described as “the dodger, the one who got away with things, the one at the edge of the action picking the pockets of those who were inattentive.” When François Mauriac, honoring Mann on his eightieth birthday, sends him an encomium, “His life illustrated his work,” Mann immediately thinks of Felix Krull and smiles at how little Mauriac knows him.
There’s so much to like about The Magician. It’s deeply observant about Mann and his work (though I wish Tóibín would have done even more with the fiction) and it is extremely well-written. Tóibín’s prose is elegant without being showy, without drawing attention to itself. Written with few metaphors and virtually no stylistic fireworks, the clean prose in a sense disappears, giving the impression that you’re experiencing the characters directly, as if watching from a window—or, maybe better, given Mann’s proclivities, a trick mirror.
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