Hey Matthew where you at, come back - we miss you, man One of my favorite and most treasured, cherished and loved channels of all time - thank you man :)
I remember having heard you speak on other occasions about this particularity of Mann's that, aware of the complexity of the work he wrote, guides us through the pages, and it seems truly accurate to me. I always remember the preface to “Magic Mountain”, the first contact I had with Thomas Mann, and how I was impressed by the narrator's self-awareness in those sentences. Even though in "Doctor Faustus" the narrator's interventions are, in general, less conspicuous, Mann's ability to put himself in the reader's place and arrange the words, paragraphs, chapters in such a sparkling tapestry as to provide a pleasant trajectory, despite the density that emerges from the pages, is truly remarkable. Adrian's dialogue with the devil keeps giving me goosebumps. One of the greatest moments in the history of Literature; i'd love to be able to read it in german, people say the "language game" throughout this passage is sublime.
It's a pleasure to listen to you! Doctor Faustus is one of my facourite novels, although it took me at least four weeks to get through, many years ago. Some time ago I had the idea to create a playlist with all the music Mann writes about. Maybe one day ... As you loved the novel you may also enjoy the companion volume "The Story of a Novel: The Genesis of Doctor Faustus." It explains some things, but does not destroy the mystery, imo.
This was great, Matthew! I totally agree with you about how welcoming Mann is with his narrative voice. I really love The Magic Mountain - I'm hoping to follow it up with some of his short(er) stories, and then maybe Doctor Faustus will follow...
Also, I'm so excited to read this book. As a piano player, and Mann fan, I've always known I'm gonna love it. The thing you say about how we get the full music lectures is SO EXCITING!
Part of the reasons I've held off reading Dr. F, is that although I have a music background, I haven't read Goethe's Faust. Looks like I should also first read Love's Labours Lost. @@leafyconcern
I thought one of the oddest things about this book is that Adrian has a friend that seems to understand him more than the narrator. I kept thinking, “shouldn’t he be the narrator?” I think Mann might of done this intentionally as a joke.
Thanks for the review! Doctor Faustus is one of my favorite novels. What Mann noticed and came to realize was an irrational component associated with artistic creation which he attributed to a shift in consciousness. An interiority (acute self-awareness) which tended to dissolve the sense of an external world, imagination de-romanticized and become the herald of abstraction in support of the spiritual. The irrational reappears thus disguised as Reason. How this in fact opened a Pandora’s box in the form of introspection, developing its own persistent methodology, and somehow conjuring a world as imbued with the sense of pre-destination and all its attendant angels and demons straight out of the Middle Ages. Mann asks how can this abstracting intellect, with the self-effacement this involves, with its denunciation of the body in pursuit of the mind’s higher aspects, in any way achieve a sense of the lyrical? The absence of the Author which is modernity’s heritage. But not so much the absence of the personal but its displacement. Apollo instead of Dionysus. Can such an art of the mind be lyrical, in the absence of Dionysian passion. These are some of the questions that remain with me long after reading Mann’s Doctor Faustus. By the way, some of the questions that I think about, regarding this novel, are: 1) Does Leverkühn share in the guilt of moral cowardice? 2) Does his art transcend his audience or represent it? 3) Is there hope for amoral art? 4) Can art overcome its elitist aloofness and still not fall into banality? 5) Is art in the service of the community possible without manipulation by the powerful?
Very nice review, Matthew. I've never read Mann's Faustus, but I did read both Goethe's Faust, and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. I liked the Goethe version best. But it is long wi=nded in places, though it was adapted very effectively to French stage by Adolphe D'Ennery. As for Mann the only book of his I am sure I have read is Lotte in Weimar, Lotte being Goethe's muse. It was a good book, short (maybe 250 pages) and unpretentious. But it had the same effect on me as Silas Marner, regarding George Eliot. I thought the book was good, well written and enjoyable, but it also left me with the feeling : I really don't want to read anything else by this author. Usually, if I like a work, I want to read more the author, time and other interests permitting. But not so, either Eliot or Mann, although your presentation makes me want to give Mann another chance, time etc permitting.
I hope this 4 month lull in content means that you're taking a break from a very punishing reading regimen. Being well-read is great but there's always more books to read and we must refresh ourselves from time to time by swimming in the ocean of experience if we want to actualise ourselves and be fully human. Life's what happens when we're making other plans.
I read this a few years ago and was baffled by it. It was too dense for me, even though I knew it was brilliant and I know one day I will reread it. It was my first Mann novel after loving his short stories. How come this dense work appealed to you while Joseph and His Brothers did not?
When you read it, did you read the Lowe-Porter translation? It might be easier if you switch to the James Woods translation? I had the same problem with The Magic Mountain until I switched translations.
Wonderful novel. It helps to have a knowlege of music. In the aftermath of its publication, Mann and Schoenberg were engaged in a feud. The letters exchanged make for fascinating reading. I can honestly say that I prefer Mann's Dr Faustus to "The Magic mountain".
Hey Matthew , where u at ? It’s been awhile. Any reading ? I been reading Petersburg by Andrei Bely. This is a must. Like WOW ! I buy you a copy if u will read and review. Pretty confident u will like. Or did u already ? I have the penguin Mcduff translation, but do compare some passages with john Elsworth translation. Hope all is well
This is a wonderful channel indeed. May I suggest a book recommendation? Please read Nikos Kazantzakis. Try his novel "Christ Recrucified". Greetings from Greece.
Here we have in our present age a society bent on the extermination of myth. Man today ,stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts and must dig frantically for roots, be it among the most remote antiquities . Neitzche God was incapable of giving man free will and AT THE SAME TIME the gift of being incapable of sin. Therefore virtue consisted of making no use of the freedom god had permited his creation... or: God was incapable of granting man both independence of choice and at the same time the inability to sin. Thusly it follows that God preferred to have man compromised by sin rather than to withhold fredom from him. Freedom was the opposite of innate sinlessness. Freedom is a very great thing , the prerequisite of creation that prevented god from shielding us against apostasy. Freedom is the freedom to sin. Piety consists in making no use of freedom out of love for god, who had to grant it( freedom). So how is god vindicated in light of evil's presence in the world? God wants omniformity or what is perfectly whole... so evil cannot be omitted otherwise we encounter the problem of quality without comparison and where comparison is lacking the good and beautiful are robbed of their nature, reduced to being that was lacking in qualities, indeed similar to non being. Therefore for good to exist,the world must be interlarded with evil, that is it must be yeilded up to demonic influences. thats all for now folks!
Yeh, I know noticed you like 'dense, complex difficult novels' the likes of Ulysses . There's attraction in the bigness of literary ambition, lumbering prose; how it sprawls across the page, leaving you scratching your head wondering to yourself, "is it really worth?" Just messing with you! 👍
Hi, Matthew. I love your thoughtful reviews. Will you ever return to RUclips? You are missed.
I agree!
Hey Matthew, where the hell did you go to?
I miss your reviews and discussions Matthew. I hope you are well and return to RUclips when life allows.
Hey Matthew where you at, come back - we miss you, man
One of my favorite and most treasured, cherished and loved channels of all time - thank you man :)
I remember having heard you speak on other occasions about this particularity of Mann's that, aware of the complexity of the work he wrote, guides us through the pages, and it seems truly accurate to me. I always remember the preface to “Magic Mountain”, the first contact I had with Thomas Mann, and how I was impressed by the narrator's self-awareness in those sentences. Even though in "Doctor Faustus" the narrator's interventions are, in general, less conspicuous, Mann's ability to put himself in the reader's place and arrange the words, paragraphs, chapters in such a sparkling tapestry as to provide a pleasant trajectory, despite the density that emerges from the pages, is truly remarkable.
Adrian's dialogue with the devil keeps giving me goosebumps. One of the greatest moments in the history of Literature; i'd love to be able to read it in german, people say the "language game" throughout this passage is sublime.
It's a pleasure to listen to you! Doctor Faustus is one of my facourite novels, although it took me at least four weeks to get through, many years ago. Some time ago I had the idea to create a playlist with all the music Mann writes about. Maybe one day ... As you loved the novel you may also enjoy the companion volume "The Story of a Novel: The Genesis of Doctor Faustus." It explains some things, but does not destroy the mystery, imo.
My favorite Book! Glad to be able to read it in the original German.
This was great, Matthew! I totally agree with you about how welcoming Mann is with his narrative voice. I really love The Magic Mountain - I'm hoping to follow it up with some of his short(er) stories, and then maybe Doctor Faustus will follow...
I know exactly what you mean by the inviting prose that says "We're going to walk through this together." It makes Mann cozy to read.
Also, I'm so excited to read this book. As a piano player, and Mann fan, I've always known I'm gonna love it. The thing you say about how we get the full music lectures is SO EXCITING!
OMG and the idea of an opera about the cosmos based on loves labours lost -- one of my favorite shakespeares ever! GOTTA read this.
I've been looking forward to reading it for much the same reasons. @@leafyconcern
Part of the reasons I've held off reading Dr. F, is that although I have a music background, I haven't read Goethe's Faust. Looks like I should also first read Love's Labours Lost.
@@leafyconcern
I thought one of the oddest things about this book is that Adrian has a friend that seems to understand him more than the narrator. I kept thinking, “shouldn’t he be the narrator?” I think Mann might of done this intentionally as a joke.
Mann is a jokester!
I'm very curious to read it now, I loved the conversations in The Magic Mountain
Thanks for the review! Doctor Faustus is one of my favorite novels. What Mann noticed and came to realize was an irrational component associated with artistic creation which he attributed to a shift in consciousness. An interiority (acute self-awareness) which tended to dissolve the sense of an external world, imagination de-romanticized and become the herald of abstraction in support of the spiritual. The irrational reappears thus disguised as Reason. How this in fact opened a Pandora’s box in the form of introspection, developing its own persistent methodology, and somehow conjuring a world as imbued with the sense of pre-destination and all its attendant angels and demons straight out of the Middle Ages. Mann asks how can this abstracting intellect, with the self-effacement this involves, with its denunciation of the body in pursuit of the mind’s higher aspects, in any way achieve a sense of the lyrical? The absence of the Author which is modernity’s heritage. But not so much the absence of the personal but its displacement. Apollo instead of Dionysus. Can such an art of the mind be lyrical, in the absence of Dionysian passion. These are some of the questions that remain with me long after reading Mann’s Doctor Faustus. By the way, some of the questions that I think about, regarding this novel, are: 1) Does Leverkühn share in the guilt of moral cowardice? 2) Does his art transcend his audience or represent it? 3) Is there hope for amoral art? 4) Can art overcome its elitist aloofness and still not fall into banality? 5) Is art in the service of the community possible without manipulation by the powerful?
Very nice review, Matthew. I've never read Mann's Faustus, but I did read both Goethe's Faust, and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. I liked the Goethe version best. But it is long wi=nded in places, though it was adapted very effectively to French stage by Adolphe D'Ennery. As for Mann the only book of his I am sure I have read is Lotte in Weimar, Lotte being Goethe's muse. It was a good book, short (maybe 250 pages) and unpretentious. But it had the same effect on me as Silas Marner, regarding George Eliot. I thought the book was good, well written and enjoyable, but it also left me with the feeling : I really don't want to read anything else by this author. Usually, if I like a work, I want to read more the author, time and other interests permitting. But not so, either Eliot or Mann, although your presentation makes me want to give Mann another chance, time etc permitting.
I hope this 4 month lull in content means that you're taking a break from a very punishing reading regimen. Being well-read is great but there's always more books to read and we must refresh ourselves from time to time by swimming in the ocean of experience if we want to actualise ourselves and be fully human. Life's what happens when we're making other plans.
I read this a few years ago and was baffled by it. It was too dense for me, even though I knew it was brilliant and I know one day I will reread it. It was my first Mann novel after loving his short stories. How come this dense work appealed to you while Joseph and His Brothers did not?
Actually I really want to revisit Joseph and his brothers!
When you read it, did you read the Lowe-Porter translation? It might be easier if you switch to the James Woods translation? I had the same problem with The Magic Mountain until I switched translations.
Wonderful novel. It helps to have a knowlege of music. In the aftermath of its publication, Mann and Schoenberg were engaged in a feud. The letters exchanged make for fascinating reading. I can honestly say that I prefer Mann's Dr Faustus to "The Magic mountain".
Hey Matthew , where u at ? It’s been awhile. Any reading ? I been reading Petersburg by Andrei Bely. This is a must. Like WOW ! I buy you a copy if u will read and review. Pretty confident u will like. Or did u already ? I have the penguin Mcduff translation, but do compare some passages with john Elsworth translation. Hope all is well
Really want to dive into Mann
This is a wonderful channel indeed. May I suggest a book recommendation? Please read Nikos Kazantzakis. Try his novel "Christ Recrucified". Greetings from Greece.
Excellent
Here we have in our present age a society bent on the extermination of myth.
Man today ,stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts and must dig frantically for roots, be it among the most remote antiquities .
Neitzche
God was incapable of giving man free will and AT THE SAME TIME the gift of being incapable
of sin. Therefore virtue consisted of making no use of the freedom god had permited his creation... or:
God was incapable of granting man both independence of choice and at the same time the inability to sin. Thusly it follows that
God preferred to have man compromised by sin rather than to withhold fredom from him. Freedom was the opposite of innate sinlessness.
Freedom is a very great thing , the prerequisite of creation that prevented god from shielding us against apostasy. Freedom is the freedom to sin. Piety consists in making no use of freedom out of love for god, who had to grant it( freedom).
So how is god vindicated in light
of evil's presence in the world?
God wants omniformity or what is perfectly whole... so evil cannot be omitted otherwise we encounter the problem of quality without comparison and where comparison is lacking the good and beautiful are robbed of their nature, reduced to being that was lacking in qualities, indeed similar to non being.
Therefore for good to exist,the world must be interlarded with evil, that is it must be yeilded up to demonic influences.
thats all for now folks!
Sounds like you liked my discussion!
Yeh, I know noticed you like 'dense, complex difficult novels' the likes of Ulysses . There's attraction in the bigness of literary ambition, lumbering prose; how it sprawls across the page, leaving you scratching your head wondering to yourself, "is it really worth?" Just messing with you! 👍