In the history of world literature there are two figures with the surname Mann: Henry and Thomas. These writers are siblings, the youngest of whom became a prominent representative of the philosophical prose of the XX century. The eldest is no less famous, but he was always in the shadow of his great brother. The topic of the article is the biography of a talented person who devoted his whole life to literature, but died in poverty and loneliness. His name is Mann Henry.
Biography and Origin
In 1871, a son was born in the family of the German businessman Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann. The first-born subsequently became one of the most famous authors of the XX century, whose name is Mann Henry. Date of birth - March 27. The brother, whose figure occupies a more significant place in the history of world literature, was born four years later.
The literary activity of the sons of Mann absolutely did not meet family traditions, according to which, for two centuries, all members of this aristocratic family were exclusively engaged in commerce and social activities.
German and Brazilian blood flowed in the veins of the famous Mann brothers. Henry Sr. once married a woman whose parents were from South America.
The future writer grew up in favorable conditions. His father held an important public position, which guaranteed all his children (and later there were five) a bright future. However, the fate of sons and daughters was quite unexpected and tragic. Later, the history of this genus, as well as its death, will be reflected in his famous novel "Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann.
After Henry graduated from Katarineum - the famous gymnasium in Lübeck - he went to Dresden in order to study the wisdom of trading in this city. But a year later, young Mann interrupted his studies.
Henry chose to enroll as a volunteer in one of the Berlin publishers. At the same time he was educated at the University of Friedrich Wilhelm. None of the Mann brothers completed their education, because they wanted to write above all else in life. The penchant for creativity was completely unusual for representatives of the old German merchant family. Unless, of course, not counting Julia Mann - the mother of Thomas and Heinrich. This woman was distinguished by extravagant behavior, musicality and artistry.
In 1910, one of the daughters in the Mann family was tragically killed. Henry, whose work during this period was in a state of stagnation, suffered the loss of his sister extremely hard. He married only four years later, at the very beginning of the war. The chosen one of the writer was the Czech actress Maria Canova. But later, in America, fate brought him together with a woman named Nelly.
Travels
In 1893, Senator Johann Mann moved his family to Munich. Henry made several trips during this period, among which was a trip to Petersburg. The future writer for many years did not have a permanent residence. From the last decade of the nineteenth century and right up to the outbreak of the First World War, Mann Henry, whose photos are presented in this article, constantly moved from city to city. For several years, a German prose writer lived in Italy. And quite a part of his travels was accompanied by his younger brother.
Constant moving was also a necessary measure after the future writer suffered a severe pulmonary disease in 1982. In order to restore health, parents sent Heinrich to Wiesbaden. And it was at this time that the father of the famous prose writer passed away. After the final cure, Heinrich Mann created the first literary works.
"Teacher Gnus, or the End of a tyrant"
The famous novel, whose protagonist is a pedantic teacher of the gymnasium, was published a year after its creation. But this work, which was written by Mann Henry in 1904, was sharply criticized, and for some time it was completely banned. Particularly negatively, the "story of the fall of a man in love" was perceived by a prose writer in his hometown.
The plot is based on the life of a person who valued power above all else. But since he could only control his students, he strove with all his might to keep the younger generation in fear. But once passion took possession of him and completely changed his life. No wonder the title of the novel says about the "end of a tyrant." Later, the novel was translated into many languages, and then the famous Hollywood director of German origin Sternberg shot the film "Blue Angel" based on it with Marlene Dietrich in the title role.
Disagreement in the views of the Mann brothers
Heinrich - a prose writer, known at the beginning of the century mainly among German-speaking readers - for many years completely stopped communicating with his younger brother Thomas. The reason was sharp political disagreements. After moving to America, Heinrich Mann was in distress, which was also aggravated by the tragic death of his wife. Despite the quarrel, the younger brother came to the rescue. Thomas Mann was one of the wealthiest German intellectual writers.
The Curse of Mann
All sorts of misfortunes accompanied the children and grandchildren of the German senator and businessman, which served as fertile ground for gossip and gossip. Both sisters of Henry committed suicide. In the same way left the mortal world and the second wife of the writer.
Thomas Mann, who reacted rather painfully to such events, reacted with strange relief to the death of his brother’s wife, saying in a letter to one of his relatives that “this woman only spoiled the life of Henry because she drank too much, scandalized and, worst of all, worked as a waitress in the club". The great novelist himself and the author of the symbolic work “Death in Venice” allegedly struggled with his homosexual inclinations all his life. Which did not stop him, however, from accusing his son of debauchery, who did not seek to hide his belonging to the sexual minority.
"Loyal subject"
At the very beginning of the First World War, a novel by Heinrich Mann was also published, in which the author quite realistically depicted the manners of Kaiser Germany. Working on the image of the protagonist, the writer was able to show it “from the inside”. Gesling in the Mann novel is a typical representative of German philistine society, the characteristic features of which were aggressiveness towards everything alien and a pathological fear of limiting one's own power. This work, along with the books of Sigmund Freud, Heinrich Heine and Karl Marx, was forbidden by the Nazis in the thirties.
The Young Years of King Henry IV
In 1935, in one of his most famous works, Heinrich Mann created a rather convincing image of an ideal ruler. The work reflects the events in the life of the monarch, which cover the period from childhood to death. Later, the author wrote a continuation of the novel, and these works constituted a dilogy, which played the most significant role in the work of the German prose writer.
In exile
Abroad, Mann's literary work did not bring any income. Perhaps the point was that his novels were of interest mainly to German readers. A significant role in the fact that Mann’s career began to decline, and tragedy in the family played.
In 1950, a man who was extremely poor and completely lonely died in Santa Monica. A month before his death, the writer was offered to take the post of president of the Academy of Arts, which was located in East Germany. But Heinrich Mann was destined to die on a foreign land, all alone.