Two banks of the same river. Thomas Mann and his publishers Samuel Fischer and Gottfried Bermann Fischer

Abstract

The enduring collaboration between the outstanding German writer and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann and the Frankfurt-based publishing house S. Fischer Verlag started in the late 19th c., with the publication of Mann’s early novella Little Herr Friedemann [Der kleine Herr Friedemann]. The year 1897 marked the start of Mann’s correspondence with Samuel Fischer and then his successor Gottfried Bermann Fischer, which spanned more than fifty years; the committed publisher saw to the publication of such landmarks of 20th-c. German literature as Buddenbrooks [Buddenbrooks — Verfall einer Familie], The Magic Mountain [Der Zauberberg], Lotte in Weimar , the four installments of Joseph and His Brothers [Joseph und seine Brüder], Doctor Faustus [Doktor Faustus], and Felix Krull [Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull]. The novels appeared in print even during the author’s enforced emigration at the time of Nazi persecution. Resulting from this collaboration with the publisher, which exemplifies preservation and propagation of German literature’s humanistic traditions, was the fact that, upon Mann’s death, none of his completed works ended up locked up in his desk — all having been published.