Klaus Mann, Music, and the Art of Transformation in Biofiction

Abstract

In Symphonie Pathétique (1935) Klaus Mann takes readers into the heart and soul of the famous composer Tchaikovsky. He makes them understand the hardship Tchaikovsky endured as a queer, European-minded composer in Russia’s musical world in the nineteenth century, which is dominated by national thought. Tapping into the transcendent power of music, Mann counters the national frame by highlighting fertile transnational connections in the life and music of his protagonist. As such, the novel is a critical response to the nationalist Nazi-Germany he fled in 1933.