A Companion to the Works of Thomas Mann by Herbert Lehnert, Eva Wesseli, Thomas Mann

Abstract

MLR, I02.2, 2007 573 significant contribution to both Sebald scholarship and critical theory, its argument is thus not always easy to follow. MARBACHAMNECKAR BEN HUTCHINSON A Companion tothe Works of ThomasMann. Ed. by HERBERT LEHNERT and EVAWES SELL. (Studies inGerman Literature, Linguistics, and Culture) Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2004. xviii+345 pp. $90; ?65. ISBN 978-I-57II3-2I9-2. This collection of essays formspart of aCamden House series inwhich twenty-seven volumes have appeared since 1999 and which will eventually provide a panorama of the accepted peaks ofGerman and Austrian literature fromHartmann von Aue to Thomas Bernhard and beyond. A Companion to the Works of Thomas Mann seeks to 'address scholars, teachers, students ofGerman or comparative literature' as well as 'themany readers ofMann's writings [. . .]who do not readGerman' (p. vii). It aims to 'inform the reader of thepresent state of research on Thomas Mann's work and to present new views' (p. 2 I).Most of the seventeen contributions to thisvolume achieve these goals admirably, in a stylewhich isboth scholarly and accessible. No companion to theworks ofThomas Mann can hope to be comprehensive, of course. As Herbert Lehnert acknowledges in his introduction, 'Thomas Mann research has become so vast thatan overview isno longer useful' (p. 2 i). Lehnert's introduction nevertheless provides a succinct overview ofMann's intellectual biography and literarycareer in itscultural and political context. Thereafter thevolume adopts a broadly chronologi cal approach to Mann's writings, from 'Gefallen' ( 894) to 'Die Betrogene' (I954), by way of essays on all the major fictional textsaswell as discussions of selected themes in Mann's ceuvre such as female identities (Hannelore Mundt) and his performances as a public speaker (Manfred Dierks). Readers keen to see contemporary literary theory applied to Mann's textswill be largely disappointed. Almost without exception, the contributions provide good, general introductions to the texts under discussion and new insights for the specialist, or both. Excellent examples of the formerare Ehrhard Bahr's essay on art and society inMann's early novellas and Clayton Koelb's dis cussion ofDer Tod in Venedig, both ofwhich present lucid expositions of the texts togetherwith introductions to the interpretative issues which have traditionally sur rounded them.Contributions which are likely tobe of greater interest to the specialist include Hans Rudolf Vaget's rereading ofDoktor Faustus, Eva Wessell's discussion ofDer Zauberberg's affinitieswith Mann's essayistic reflections on the First World War, and Hans-Joachim Sandberg's stimulating consideration ofMann's abandoned novel on Frederick theGreat and itsplace in the genesis and architecture ofDer Tod inVenedig. Refreshingly, thevolume also contains erudite appraisals of novels which have tended to remain on themargins ofThomas Mann reading lists, ifnot ofMann scholarship, including the Joseph tetralogy (Peter Piitz), Lotte inWeimar (Werner Frizen), and Felix Krull (Egon Schwarz). The critical apparatus isgenerally helpful and well conceived, though it isodd that the bibliography ofMann's works (pp. ix-xv) provides theirEnglish titleswhile the index lists only the original German ones. The volume's methodology is robustly contextual and, with the exception of Lehnert's introduction, Dierks's analysis of Mann's late politics, and Wessell's discussion of thewar essays, focuses largely on Mann's fiction-to the extent that amore accurate title might be A Companion to the Fictional Works of Thomas Mann. The essays are all firmlyembedded in the context ofMann's intellectual and emotional biography and of his attitudes to political and cultural developments. The best contributions will help thenew reader of individual textsbyMann to achieve a deeper understanding of theircomplexities and their joys. 574 Reviews However, it is slightly regrettable that,with the exception of Lehnert's brief intro duction, the volume tends not to address questions of larger coherences or patterns inMann's work. There is no sustained attempt to present thematic or formal con nections between textswhich are discussed sowell in isolation, yetwhich, together, often present a confusing labyrinth to students approaching Mann for the firsttime. Mann's intellectual influences, his essays on politics, philosophy, and literature, and his diaries and letters are all referred tomany times in the course of this volume. However, littleattempt ismade to argue either foror against the existence of broad patterns within Mann's ceuvre...