I don't have a grand introduction for Buddenbrooks, the first of Thomas Mann's novels, and there are three or four of them on the list, to come up. We finally get into a long book from the German-speaking world, among people (in this book at least) I find to be quite temperamentally familiar in their emotional drives, romantic pursuits and so on, to the sorts of people I have mostly lived among in the United States, more than the English really, and certainly more than the French and Italians. Even Thomas Buddenbrook's obvious attraction to Catholicism and preference for calling for those in its service to his aid without joining the faith etc////////////
O.K, so I started this post 16 days ago and then I had to do many things and I went on vacation and I forget where I was going with this opening paragraph so I am going to start over. Buddenbrooks seems to be an exceptionally well respected novel--I can find very little snark or condescension directed at it even on the internet--and it is still on the cusp at least of being modern, perhaps because its author remained a prominent literary figure well into the middle of the last century, yet it is a book that any regular (non-scholarly) person could read easily and maybe even get something out of it, insight or advanced understanding beyond what they were limited to before. It has numerous of the elements that are common in classic European novels, and which I presume are central to their having been a predominant art form over the past 400 years--a long arc of time either literal or implied, families of enough solidity and standing that they are sort of extra-representative of the society being depicted, venerable schools and rituals. Of course not all of the great novels involve these exact themes, but most of them work more or less within these basic parameters.
Here's the IWE introduction: "Mann's first novel is still ranked among his best. It pictures the high-bourgeois business family of which Germany's commercial cities have had a superabundance for at least a century and it portrays the problems of the monster or mutant of artistic soul born into such a family. The novel is wholly authentic because Thomas Mann was such a person born into such a family."
I'm not sure whether the mutant referred to here is supposed to be Christian or little Johann Buddenbrook--I am assuming it is the boy, since Christian comes off as rather pathetic and Hanno really is the endpoint of the family. Even while he is alive, it is obvious that the continuation of the firm and the family's position is hopeless. I cannot quite believe either of these hapless characters are stand-ins for the vigorous, focused and preternaturally mature author.
I took many notes on this book. I won't use them all but I can't begin to organize them, especially after this lapse of time, so it will just be the snippets again.
p. 70 The grandfather's dying words: "And to Christian: 'Be something worth while!'" At this point in the book Christian was still a young man, so the admonition was humorous.
p. 84 "Contempt was a weakness of Sesemi's--perhaps a pardonable one."
p. 206 "Her strongly developed family sense was instinctively hostile to conceptions of free will and self-development...She had, unconsciously, the feeling that any trait of hers, no matter of what kind, was a family tradition and therefore worthy of respect."
I feel like we are not supposed to think too highly of Tony Buddenbrook, that she is too emotional and shallow and personally undisciplined and thus emblematic of the general rot that has set into the family, but I found her spirit to be attractive. The misfortune of her first marriage, into which she was forced for the sake of the family, was not her fault, but of course it colored the way everyone regarded her forever afterwards.
p. 264 Christian "'I have gone a great deal to watch concerts,' he said. 'I like to watch how the people behave with their instruments. It is really beautiful to be an artist.'"
There follow two paragraphs about Christian's self-absorption. Pertinent to modern condition, expresses what was formerly considered appropriate mental development in a man.
p. 270 More Christian: "He silently took for granted the pre-eminence of his elder (Thomas), his superior capacity, earnestness, and respectability. But precisely this casual, indiscriminate acknowledgment irritated Thomas, for it had the appearance of setting no value upon superior capacity, earnestness, or respectability."
p. 338 Tony: "And when I am his wife, you'll see...I will take care that he has ambition and gets ahead and makes an effort and is a credit to me and all of us."
I always note passages like this. The idea holds a fascination for me.
p. 341 Gerda. "She had a real distaste for expeditions like to-day's especially in summer and most especially on Sunday. She lived in the twilight of her curtained living-rooms, and dreaded the sun, the dust, the crowds of townsfolk in their holiday clothes, the smell of coffee, beer, and tobacco; and above everything else in the world she hated getting hot and upset."
The contrast between "morbid beauty" and "healthy prettiness" (represented by Antonie/Tony, who enjoyed such outings and even drinking beer). The latter is always a little undervalued, even in our time. The frigid, impeccably well-presented Gerda, whose only apparent interest is music, is admired by numerous men in the book as a superior, goddess-like being.
p. 364 Antonie in Munich during her equally unsuccessful second marriage: "...she breathed the Munich air, the air of a great city, full of artists and citizens who habitually did nothing."
Munich comes off in this book as having a reputation in the German speaking world for being a comparatively lazy city. I wonder whether this is still true.
I found the style of this book interesting in the use of long passages describing appearances, clothes, furniture in some instances, while entire years, marriages, and other significant life passages are passed over in a couple of paragraphs punctuated with rapid bursts of scenes that settle matters decisively and move the story along. It works here, but I think it would harder to write in this manner than it looks.
p. 428 Thomas Buddenbrook's "What is success?" speech. Whether or not it is itself central to the theme of the book as the author wishes us to understand it, it is central to the ethos of the society which the book is depicting, and is close to that which prevails in our own, so it seems worth examining.
"What is success? It is an inner, an indescribable force, resourcefulness, power of vision; a consciousness that I am, by my mere existence, exerting pressure on the movement of life around me. It is my belief in the adaptability of life to my own ends. Fortune and success lie with ourselves. We must hold them firmly--deep within us. For as soon as something begins to slip, to relax, to get tired, within us, then everything about us will rebel and struggle to withdraw from our influence. One thing follows another, blow after blow--and the man is finished."
pp. 447-8. Tony at her daughter's wedding: "...Frau Permaneder, overpowered by the past, the present, and the future, burst into audible sobs: just the unthinking, unembarrassed tears of her childhood."
I was moved by this scene. Best character, I wrote, shrewdest acumen, tightly wound. Yes, I have a soft spot for her, though she certainly would have found me disappointing (though personality-wise I was more like the medical student boyfriend she had that her parents wouldn't let her marry when she was young than any of the other characters. He did work his way to a successful career in adulthood, however).
p. 485 The torment of Hanno (Thomas's weakling son) when he struggles to recite a hymn in his father's presence, remarks on manliness. Is this how you need to raise boys to be capable adults? Because we don't know. (ed--evidently these methods were not foolproof, since they did not work with Hanno. But my impression is still that discipline and strict, even severe expectations have been essential in many instances of successful development).
"It was cruel. The Senator (Thomas) was probably aware that he was robbing the boy of the last remnant of his self-control But the boy should not let himself be robbed. He should have more manliness by now."
p.498. The great Wagner debate of 1868. We are rather insensitive to its depth and importance now, but at the time it was a matter of world-historical seriousness.
p. 571 Thomas to Christian during their final blow up: "I have more serious things to think about than your illnesses." My comment was 'I love it when people get real'.
p. 615 More worries about Hanno's inferiority. "Somehow or other a boy must know from the beginning how to gain the confidence and respect of his comrades, upon whose good opinion of him he will be dependent for the rest of his life! There were, on the other hand, the two sons of Consul Hagenstrom (the Hagenstroms were an ascendant rival family), two fine strapping boys, twelve and fourteen years old, strong and full of spirits, who instituted prize-fights in the neighbouring woods, were the best gymnasts in the school, swam like otters, smoked cigars, and were ready for any deviltry. They were popular, feared, and respected."
These truths cut deep with me.
p. 616 "But--not to speak of his masters--what must his fellow pupils think of Hanno, who was not only a very mediocre scholar, but a weakling into the bargain; who tried to get out of everything for which a scrap of courage, strength, skill, and energy were needed?"
My comment--'Truly such important concepts that are not impressed upon weak boys forcefully enough. They go to any length to justify their pathetic existences.' I don't think I would joke about this matter, but perhaps I was.
p. 647 Thomas Buddenbrook's revelation regarding the nature of death as a release, a freeing from the body which prevents one from "being something other and better." I haven't made this leap of consciousness yet. Also it is impressive how well the youthful Mann (age 26 at the time of the book's publication) grasped the sense of impending death, the emotions, etc, that grip a 48 year old. I had no conception of this in my 20s.
p. 658 "Siegismund Gosch ordered another grog in a tone of voice that was as good as saying, 'What's the use of living?'" Lol.
p. 664 "Among the crowd were settled, grey-bearded, highly respectable citizens, wearing the most irreproachable national-liberal expression on their faces." I think this must have reminded me of the respectable liberals of our own day who are always able without appearing to have any trouble about it to hold the correct position on every litmus test of moral worth that comes, and indeed to have always done so, more or less.
I wrote a note which says, 'There is a manly way to criticize and contend with the great works of civilizational history bequeathed to us. We aren't adequately doing this.' I think the "We" here refers to people like me who aren't doing anything particularly well or providing much societal leadership, but still think of ourselves as the sort of people who ought to be doing that.
p. 710 "The ideals of the victorious, united fatherland (we are at about 1875 now) were those of a somewhat rude masculinity."
When 19th century Germans talk about music...
Perhaps I should post all of these little notes and observations as individual Twitter tweets. It would get my post numbers up there and perhaps in the more immediate moment the thoughts would take a fresher and livelier form. What would come of this long project of the book list then? I would have to write in a more essay like format on the blog, which would be desirable, and I hope to do more of that somewhere down the line anyway. But now I scarcely have time to do this.
I read an old translation of course, by H. T. Lowe-Porter, who upon further research, and admittedly to my surprise, was not only a woman but an American to boot. She was the first English translator of most of Mann's works. Indeed she had the exclusive rights to do so for publication for about 20 years. The new ones all claim naturally to be much better and more accurate, and even to retain more of the original humor, though this last I usually find to be especially debatable, as there seem to be few classes of people with less of a feel for humor than modern scholars and intellectuals.
The Bourgeois Surrender Challenge
1. Robert T. Kiyosaki--Rich Dad, Poor Dad..................................................................57,450
2. The Devil Wears Prada (movie--2006)......................................................................19,618
3. C. S. Lewis--The Great Divorce..................................................................................3,797
4. Michelle Magorian--Goodnight, Mister Tom..............................................................3,446
5. Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein--Nudge....................................................................2,233
6. Richard Thaler--Misbehaving......................................................................................1,723
7. Emily Giffin--Heart of the Matter...............................................................................1,136
8. The Egyptian (movie--1954)...........................................................................................353
9. Erica Bauermeister--House Lessons...............................................................................291
10. Erica Ridley--Dawn With a Duke.................................................................................266
11. Eli J. Finkel--The All or Nothing Marriage...................................................................197
12. Buddenbrooks (movie--2008)..........................................................................................96
13. Hector Abad--Oblivion....................................................................................................82
14. Albert O. Hirschman--The Passions and the Interests....................................................47
15. Jordan Reeves & Jen Lee Reeves--Born Just Right........................................................44
16. Thomas Mann--Royal Highness......................................................................................34
A decent field.
Round of 16
#16 Mann over #1 Kiyosaki
I assume Kiyosaki is the rich dad. But he goes down in the first round against Thomas Mann.
#15 Reeves & Reeves over #2 The Devil Wears Prada
#3 Lewis over #14 Hirschman
I feel like Lewis has appeared in the tournament on several previous occasions, without winning. I could look this up, and maybe I will at some point.
#4 Magorian over #13 Abad
The first somewhat close game. I feel like the Mister Tom book is a minor classic while the Abad concerns politically motivated murders in Colombia. Someday a book like that will probably get through and win, but it isn't going to happen a lot..
#5 Thaler & Sunstein over #12 Buddenbrooks the movie.
I would still like to see the movie, though I am picking up signals that it is not always easy to watch in the United States.
#11 Finkel over #6 Thaler
I would probably rather read Thaler, who is a University of Chicago professor who manages to write popular economics books, which is a class of person I am interested in, but Finkel's book had an upset.
#7 Giffin over #10 Ridley
Romance novel alert.
#9 Bauermeister over #8 The Egyptian
Elite 8
#16 Mann over #3 Lewis
A tough loss for Lewis, who fell victim to the old "IWE authors get advantages in the first two rounds unless there is an upset rule." He's another one who will get another crack at the title someday.
#4 Magorian over #15 Reeves & Reeves
#5 Thaler & Sunstein over #11 Finkel
A competitive game between two books that kind of deal with the similar subject of How to Thrive in Today's Cognitively Demanding Social Environment. I thought Thaler & Sunstein looked more cognitively stimulating overall.
#7 Giffin over #9 Bauermeister
Griffin had an upset. It is a fairly mild one.
Final Four
#4 Magorian over #16 Mann
Mann's second novel (after Buddenbrooks), though not one of his more celebrated efforts. It probably would still have won over a children's book but Magorian has an upset to use.
#5 Thaler & Sunstein over #7 Giffin
I can't quite figure out what kind of book the Giffin is, but it doesn't sound like anything I particularly want to read.
Champonship
#4 Magorian over #5 Thaler & Sunstein
I have a mild curiosity to read both of these books. The Magorian more or less wins on a coin flip and because it seems to be genuinely esteemed by serious book readers.
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