Thomas Mannās novel "Magic Mountain" was published in 1924. The author worked on it for 12 years. This is a philosophical work traditional for a classic German educational novel. This article describes the summary of this book.
The beginning of the century
The action of Thomas Mannās novel āMagic Mountainā takes place in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It all starts a few years before the outbreak of World War I. Not far from the Swiss Davos is a tuberculosis sanatorium. The title of the entire work refers the reader to Mount Gerzelberg, also known as Magical or Sinful. There, according to an old legend, the minnesinger TannhƤuser spent 7 years in captivity with the goddess Venus.
The main character of Mannās novel āThe Magic Mountainā is a young German named Hans Castrop. He arrives at a sanatorium called Berggof from Hamburg to visit his cousin Joachim Zimsen. Hans expects to spend several weeks in the sanatorium, but soon he begins to feel unwell, his condition worsens due to high temperature. Doctors find symptoms of tuberculosis in him. Dr. Behrens insists that he stay in the sanatorium for a longer period.
Thomas Mann in "Magic Mountain" notes that Hans from the very beginning noted that time flows in the mountains in a completely different way. Because of this, it becomes completely impossible to determine how many days and weeks pass between any incidents. So the reader does not understand how long the whole novel covers. True, in the final it is mentioned that Hans spent a total of seven years in the sanatorium, but researchers are even inclined to consider this figure as a certain artistic convention.
The plot as an occasion
Telling a brief summary of Mannās novel "The Magic Mountain", it is worth noting that all the events taking place in it are practically not important for understanding the meaning of the work. The plot becomes only an occasion that helps the author to identify the life principles of the characters, speak out on serious issues - about death, life, love, disease, politics and the fate of civilization, which turned out to be on the verge of the 20th century.
The characters that are found in Mannās Magic Mountain are patients, doctors and nursing staff. Some of them are dying, someone, having recovered, is leaving home, new guests are constantly coming to their place.
Hans's acquaintances
In the very first days of his stay in the sanatorium, Hans met a Freemason and a descendant of the carbonarians of Lodovico Settembrini. He characterizes himself as an ardent supporter of progress and a humanist. At the same time, being an Italian by nationality, he hates Austria-Hungary. Lodoviko in a caustic form constantly expresses paradoxical ideas that have a significant impact on the formation of the worldview of Hans. Over time, he begins to sincerely consider Settembrini his mentor.
A large role is played by his feelings for a Russian patient named Claudia Shosh. Hans falls in love with her, but because of a strict religious upbringing, at first she tries to calm down these feelings in herself. In "Magic Mountain" T. Mann clarifies that many months passed before Hans decided to speak with her. This happens before Lent during the carnival, when Claudia is about to leave the sanatorium.
Passion for philosophical ideas
Years spent in a sanatorium are not in vain for a young man. He is interested in a variety of natural science and philosophical ideas. He reads literature on medicine, goes to lectures on psychoanalysis, he is attracted to modern music, issues of life and death. Over time, he completely forgets about his life on the plain, where his relatives and work await him. He practically breaks any relationship with all of them. Life in the sanatorium seems to him the only possible form of existence.
In another position is his cousin Joachim, who has long been preparing himself for a military career. Therefore, every extra month spent in the mountains, he perceives as an obstacle to his dream. Once he even leaves the sanatorium, ignoring the advice of doctors, enters the service and receives the rank of officer. But after some time, his illness worsens, he has to return to the mountains. His condition worsened so much during this time that treatment does not help, he dies.
Jesuit Nafta
In "Magic Mountain", Thomas Mann notes that Hans has a new acquaintance - the opponent of Settembrini Jesuit Nafta. He extols medieval Europe, condemns progress and bourgeois civilization. Listening to their disputes, Hans can not decide which side to choose. In turn, he agrees with everyone, and then finds contradictions between them.
At this time, Madame Shosha returned to the sanatorium, accompanied by a wealthy Dutchman Peperkorn. He conquers almost all the guests of the sanatorium with his powerful, mysterious and at the same time tongue-tied personality. Hans does feel a kinship with him, because they are united by love for one woman.
Peperkorn's life ends tragically. Being already terminally ill, he goes for a walk to the waterfall, entertaining his companions along the road. In the evening he drinks with Hans at the Brudershaft, they begin to communicate on "you", despite the age difference. In the dead of night, the Dutchman takes poison and dies. A few days after this tragedy, Madame Shosha leaves the sanatorium, now, apparently, forever.
Restless Danish
In T. Mannās book āThe Magic Mountainā, the reader feels the anxiety that worries all the guests of the sanatorium when a new patient appears among them - the Danish Ellie Brand. She has supernatural powers, for example, she can summon spirits and read thoughts from a distance.
With its submission, all patients begin to get involved in spiritualism, begin to conduct mysterious sessions, to which Hans comes. He decides to go there, not even paying attention to the warnings and frankly stinging ridicule from Settembrini.
Just after one of these sessions, the measured and habitual course of time in the sanatorium is violated. Patients constantly quarrel and swear among themselves, the most surprising is that conflicts arise over almost any, even the most insignificant, occasion.
Duel
Disputes between Settembrini and Nafta are becoming increasingly fierce. During one of them, Lodovico claims that the Jesuit corrupts youth and youth with his reasoning. The conflict develops into a verbal squabble that ends with a challenge to a duel. Settembrini is categorically against shooting, then Nafta fires a bullet in his head.
Against this background, everyone is even more struck by the news about the outbreak of the First World War. Patients urgently drive home. Hans also goes to the plain. When parting, Settembrini admonishes him, advising him to fight where he finds people close to him by blood. At the same time, Lodoviko himself, apparently, is going to take the opposite side.
The finale of the novel
In the last scene of Thomas Mannās The Magic Mountain novel (according to reviews, it becomes one of the climax), Hans is depicted at the forefront. He runs, falls, crawls along with other young people who, by chance, ended up in soldiers' greatcoats in the meat grinder of a terrible war.
The author is silent about the fate of the hero, because for him, first of all, the characterās life was only a background for the story. Therefore, what happened to him is not so important.