Thomas Mann's first novel, Buddenbrooks, made him a world famous writer. The book was published in 1901, when the author was only 26 years old. However, despite his young age, he managed to offer the reading public a unique work.
The Buddenbrooks is a family saga that spans the lives of four generations of a wealthy German family of businessmen. Already one huge scale of design made this book a notable phenomenon in the world of literature. But besides this, Thomas Mann revealed all his mature talent for years. He vividly and interestingly described a picture of the gradual exaltation and fall of a trading name. After the first edition, the book became a bestseller and the object of praise of critics. In 1929, thanks to this novel, Thomas Mann received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
main characters
The novel "Buddenbrooks", a brief summary of which describes the plot of the book, tells the story of the Buddenbrock family. It is known to every resident of the small town of Marienkirch. The head of the family is Johann Buddenbrock, who owns the company of the same name. He has a wife, Josephine, and a son, Johann (whose bride's name is Elizabeth).
Johann has several grandchildren from this marriage - ten-year-old Thomas, eight-year-old Anthony (among relatives she is known as Tony) and seven-year-old Christians. The girl Clotilde, a distant and poor relative, also lives in the house with all of them. In addition, the Buddenbrooks have a teacher and housekeeper Ida Jungman. She has lived with her family for so long that she is rightfully considered her full member.
Prodigal son
Throughout the story, new characters gradually join the main characters, who complement and make the novel "Buddenbrooks" more interesting. The summary of this book can not do without mentioning Gotthold - the eldest son of Johann, living separately from the family. Relatives try not to remember him, because the young man married a poor girl. In a wealthy family, this union was not approved, considering it unnatural.
However, Gotthold himself remembers the Buddenbrooks. He is trying to get him part of the marital status. His younger brother Johann persuades his father not to pay the required amount. Merchants do not want to share their fortunes because they are afraid of losing hundreds of thousands of brands and suffering serious losses that could hurt the company.
Family tree
Two years later, a daughter is born to Johann Jr. and his wife Elizabeth, whom it was decided to call Clara. This event was one of the most joyful for the family throughout the entire Buddenbrook novel. The summary of the chapter related to the birth of Clara is as follows: happy Johann writes the news about the birth of his daughter in a special notebook. Family members for many generations filled it, thus compiling a detailed genealogical collection.
Three years later, the wife of Johann Sr. Josephine dies. Large temporary gaps are associated with the fact that the book is a long colossal chronicle. The work of this particular genre was wanted to be published by Thomas Mann. "Buddenbrooks" (a brief summary tells about the main plot nodes of the novel) after the death of Josephine, they undergo the first serious plot twist. The head of the family decides to retire and transfers the company to his son. Soon after, the elderly Johann dies. His namesake son, having met with his older brother Gotthold at a funeral, refuses to give him at least some part of the inheritance.
Engagement Tony
Meanwhile, children continue to grow. Tony turns eighteen, after which the Hamburg merchant Mr. Grunlich makes her an offer. The newly-born groom manages to enlist the support of the girl’s parents, and they press on their daughter. However, Anthony Grunlich absolutely does not like.
Disagreement leads to scandal. Parents decide to send Tony to the sea town of Travemunde near Lübeck. They believe that a girl should relax, put her thoughts in order and once again consider the proposal of a businessman. At this moment, an important plot twist of the novel "Buddenbrooks" takes place. The summary of the following chapters is as follows: Tony settles in the house of the sailor Schwarzkopf and meets his son Morgen. The young people quickly became friends, and then completely confessed to each other in love. However, vacation at sea soon ends. Anthony returns home.
Difficult decision
Finally, Tony stumbles upon a notebook with a family tree and realizes that she must continue the clan, connect her life with a rich man and not repeat the mistakes of her uncle Gotthold. The girl goes against the heart and agrees to marry Mr. Grunlich.
The joint life of a new family is not set from the very beginning. The husband quickly cools down to his wife. The situation does not save even the birth of daughter Erica. The book Buddenbrooks continues on this unpleasant storyline. The summary of the novel in the pages devoted to the Grunlikh family is as follows: four years after the wedding, the husband becomes bankrupt. And it soon becomes clear that all this time he stayed afloat only because the groom got the dowry of his wife. Johann does not want to help his son-in-law. He takes the daughter and granddaughter to his native home and declares the marriage invalid.
The heirs
Johann Buddenbrock dies in 1855. The status of the head of the family passes to his son Thomas, who from an early age helped his grandfather and father in the affairs of the company. His uncle Gotthold has been living with other relatives for many years. He managed to establish relations with his brother through the sale of his own business.
Now Thomas makes his uncle a fictitious head of the company, and he remains its de facto leader. His younger brother, Christians, has a completely different character. He does not like working in a family office and spends all his time in theaters and clubs. In the end, Christian quarrels with his older brother and moves to Hamburg, where he becomes a partner in another company. However, its restless nature makes itself felt in a new place. Christians fail to gain a foothold in Hamburg. After some time, he returns to his father's house, even though his relations with relatives are noticeably spoiled. Christian's further behavior shows that he never learned anything from his mistakes.
New events
In Munich, Antonia met Alois Permaneder and soon married for the second time. This character is another new face that appeared closer to the middle of the novel, authored by Mann. The Buddenbrooks (short) are continued by Tony’s failures in family life. She moves to her husband in Munich, but in the new city she is destined to play the role of a stranger and unloved by everyone.
In addition, Tony's second child is born dead. Even such a strong grief cannot bring her and Aloise closer. After some time, Anthony convicts his wife of treason. After that, she returns to her mother and files for divorce. The second marriage ends in the same fiasco as the first.
Heyday of the family
But T. Mann writes not only about failures and grief. “Buddenbrooks” (a brief summary of this reflects) are marked by a joyful event. Thomas gives birth to a son, who is named Johann in honor of his grandfather (soon in the family an abridged version of the name is assigned to him - Ganno). The boy becomes the heir to the whole family and its main asset - the company. Following this, Thomas wins the election and is elected by the senator. Having become a politician, he decides to build a new luxurious house, which quickly turned into a symbol of the power of the Buddenbrooks.
Sister Thomas Clara shortly before the birth of a nephew marries pastor Tiburtius. A married couple moves to Riga. But some time after the birth of Ganno, Clara dies of tuberculosis. According to the will, a woman transfers her entire fortune (part of the total budget of the Buddenbrooks) to her spouse. Mother Elizabeth secretly fulfills her will. When Thomas finds out about this, he becomes impotent rage.
Failure after failure
With each new chapter, the atmosphere of despondency and hopelessness is becoming stronger, as Mann himself wanted in the author’s plan. The Buddenbrooks (synopsis) continue with the fact that Thomas, 42, is depressed. It seems to him that his firm is doomed, and any efforts to rectify the situation are futile. The first crack appeared after the story of Clara’s legacy. Now Tom decides on a major scam, but it fails and leads to new losses. The company has reduced turnover
All these ups and downs of the gradual extinction of a powerful family are described in detail by Thomas Mann. “Buddenbrooks” (summary) span the lives of four generations. Little Ganno (belonging to the last of them) has little interest in trade and firm. He, like his mother, is fond of music, which depresses and annoys his father. A year later, at an already venerable age, Elizabeth dies. So, character after character, the heroes leave the stage of the novel "Buddenbrooks". The summary (reviews confirm this) only in general terms describes that catastrophe, which is inexorably approaching the threshold of a family nest.
Gradual fading
Thomas foreshadows misfortune. Intuition does not fail him. The daughter of Tony Erica has a daughter (she is called Elizabeth). However, the woman’s husband Veynshenk is arrested for numerous offenses related to his business. Meanwhile, the Buddenbrooks house is being sold to Herman Hagenström, one of the firm's competitors, whose business continues to go uphill.
Thomas is not getting younger - his health is getting worse, he can no longer work as much as in his youth. His son grows up submissive and indifferent. In addition, Tom begins to suspect his wife of treason. All this in aggregate depletes his physical and moral strength.
At the beginning of 1873, Weinshenk was released. However, he does not return to the Buddenbrooks, but tells his wife that he will not return until he ensures her a decent existence. After this news, no one else hears anything about him.
Company liquidation
Despite all the troubles, the course of events of the book "Buddenbrooks" continues. Summary, translations into Russian - all this is of great interest today because even after more than a hundred years after publication, this book is popular with readers. The culmination of the plot is the death of Thomas. According to his testament, the remaining relatives liquidate the family company, whose history has more than a hundred years.
This is the main tragedy of the novel "Buddenbrooks". A brief summary of the chapters shows how, in just a year, the results of the labors of several generations of the family collapse. After the death of Thomas, there was not a single person left who could afford to continue the work of his ancestors. From the former greatness remains only memory and urban tales.
last hope
Christian, having received a share of the inheritance, leaves for Hamburg, where he marries a lady of easy virtue, Alina Pufogel. Very soon, she sends her husband to a hospital and becomes the owner of a lot of capital.
The actual status of the head of the family goes to Antonia. The company has already been liquidated, but the legal procedure has been done ineptly and hastily, which is why crumbs remain from family wealth. Nevertheless, Tony hopes that the fifteen-year-old Ganno will eventually be able to return their greatness to the Buddenbrooks. Her aspirations are not destined to come true. The boy is dying of deadly typhus. It interrupts the male line of the clan.
The end of the novel
Six months after the death of Ganno, Gerda, the wife of the late Gotthold, leaves the Buddenbrooks. She takes away the remnants of family capital to her native Amsterdam. Housekeeper Ida Jungman also decides to relocate to her relatives. From the previously huge family, only Anthony, her daughter and their distant relative Clotilde remain.
At this plot twist, the Buddenbrooks novel ends. The summary in German, as well as in Russian, can be summarized by the fact that only the notebook that contained information about the genealogy of the genus was left from family memory. Tony periodically rereads it and continues to hope for the best. This is how the family chronicle in the Buddenbrooks novel is interrupted. Summary, translations into Russian and the original book are of interest to readers around the world, due to the fact that Mann was able to recreate the grandiose picture of the gradual death of a powerful kind of businessmen.