I love “ The magic mountain” read it a few times, in French when I was young and in English later. Also read Doctor Faustus a long time ago.. I have always wanted to read him again, I love your talking about him , he was a great writer.
I loved Felix Krull when I was a kid! Are you familiar with Andre Gide’s short, fast-moving, joyful riff on the theme of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, which is called LES CAVES DU VATICAN?
Excellent selection of great Mann books read. I have not met or heard about many people who have read as many as you outline here. Most of my Comparative Literature students even at an Ivy League University may have some passing knowledge of either Death In Venice or The Magic Mountain and even more rarely both. There's no doubt he seems to have fallen out of favor in academia since my own readings in the late 1970's. I remember stumbling onto a dusty row of his works in a long forgotten corner of my own college's library and being thrilled that here was a writer I discovered for myself. I was no doubt there on other business late at night during a finals week and had taken a break to wander among the stacks. I was ultimately thrilled by Joseph and His Brothers and by a book of Mann's own Collected Diary entries. Later there was an excellent book on his exiled life in Los Angeles. There are also 3 excellent biographies that I've read several times that imply that Mann was not a very nice person. Just wanted to say Thank You again for highlighting the sometimes off the beaten track writers you focus upon. So unique are your choices that I find myself intrigued and educated on a couple I'm less familiar with. Your videos always come as a very welcomed surprise. I do wish you had more subscribers but don't be discouraged they will come with time. I know I wouldn't miss any of your videos. Be well.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. I have to confess I don't consider myself, in any way, a literary expert so I'm honored that anyone who teaches Comparative Literature would be interested. I was a Biology major in college and most of my electives were in art, mostly painting and drawing, and literature was just a passion I had on the side so I really have no education in literature. My only claim to fame is that I've been reading all my life and have managed to live to a fairly old age and, in so doing, have read a lot of books . One of the motivating factors in doing this channel was to highlight some of the extraordinary writers I've read that seem to go under the radar and I wanted to try to bring attention to them, so I was pleased to hear you mention it. I'm really not too concerned with the number of subscribers. I had no idea how well my videos would be accepted so I'm happy with any viewers. I'm, also, aware that I'm a fairly boring speaker and these videos usually require someone with a little bit of charisma, so, again, I didn't know if I would get any subscribers. My plans are to continue doing these until I've shown all of the writers I wanted to talk about regardless of how well I do.
Yes! Buddenbrooks! One of my top favorite novels by any writer. I see the story arc a little differently than you do however, namely that story builds up until the Buddenbrook family reaches it peak with the election of Thomas Buddenbrook as Senator and the building of his new mansion. After that, as you say, it's a story of decline. I was also a little surprised that you don't mention Thomas's brother Christian as a major character.
Thank you for your insightful comments. I have to admit I've been questioning my ability to do these videos for a while now. Most of the writers I'm attempting to talk about are ones I read up to fifty years ago and I've found that I really don't recall much about some of the books. Thomas Mann is an example. I read most of his books about twenty to fifty years ago but most of them I felt I had enough memory of to do the video. However, just before I was going to record my video I discovered that I was remembering the wrong Doctor Faustus and was thinking of the play by Christopher Marlowe not the story by Thomas Mann. In spite of my shortcomings, I have several more writers I want to talk about before I stop making these videos, so I guess I'll continue for now.
I love “ The magic mountain” read it a few times, in French when I was young and in English later.
Also read Doctor Faustus a long time ago.. I have always wanted to read him again, I love your talking about him , he was a great writer.
Good video name, Interesting video too. Aloha
I loved Felix Krull when I was a kid!
Are you familiar with Andre Gide’s short, fast-moving, joyful riff on the theme of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, which is called LES CAVES DU VATICAN?
Excellent selection of great Mann books read. I have not met or heard about many people who have read as many as you outline here. Most of my Comparative Literature students even at an Ivy League University may have some passing knowledge of either Death In Venice or The Magic Mountain and even more rarely both. There's no doubt he seems to have fallen out of favor in academia since my own readings in the late 1970's. I remember stumbling onto a dusty row of his works in a long forgotten corner of my own college's library and being thrilled that here was a writer I discovered for myself. I was no doubt there on other business late at night during a finals week and had taken a break to wander among the stacks. I was ultimately thrilled by Joseph and His Brothers and by a book of Mann's own Collected Diary entries. Later there was an excellent book on his exiled life in Los Angeles. There are also 3 excellent biographies that I've read several times that imply that Mann was not a very nice person.
Just wanted to say Thank You again for highlighting the sometimes off the beaten track writers you focus upon. So unique are your choices that I find myself intrigued and educated on a couple I'm less familiar with. Your videos always come as a very welcomed surprise. I do wish you had more subscribers but don't be discouraged they will come with time. I know I wouldn't miss any of your videos. Be well.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. I have to confess I don't consider myself, in any way, a literary expert so I'm honored that anyone who teaches Comparative Literature would be interested. I was a Biology major in college and most of my electives were in art, mostly painting and drawing, and literature was just a passion I had on the side so I really have no education in literature. My only claim to fame is that I've been reading all my life and have managed to live to a fairly old age and, in so doing, have read a lot of books . One of the motivating factors in doing this channel was to highlight some of the extraordinary writers I've read that seem to go under the radar and I wanted to try to bring attention to them, so I was pleased to hear you mention it. I'm really not too concerned with the number of subscribers. I had no idea how well my videos would be accepted so I'm happy with any viewers. I'm, also, aware that I'm a fairly boring speaker and these videos usually require someone with a little bit of charisma, so, again, I didn't know if I would get any subscribers. My plans are to continue doing these until I've shown all of the writers I wanted to talk about regardless of how well I do.
Yes! Buddenbrooks! One of my top favorite novels by any writer. I see the story arc a little differently than you do however, namely that story builds up until the Buddenbrook family reaches it peak with the election of Thomas Buddenbrook as Senator and the building of his new mansion. After that, as you say, it's a story of decline. I was also a little surprised that you don't mention Thomas's brother Christian as a major character.
Thank you for your insightful comments. I have to admit I've been questioning my ability to do these videos for a while now. Most of the writers I'm attempting to talk about are ones I read up to fifty years ago and I've found that I really don't recall much about some of the books. Thomas Mann is an example. I read most of his books about twenty to fifty years ago but most of them I felt I had enough memory of to do the video. However, just before I was going to record my video I discovered that I was remembering the wrong Doctor Faustus and was thinking of the play by Christopher Marlowe not the story by Thomas Mann. In spite of my shortcomings, I have several more writers I want to talk about before I stop making these videos, so I guess I'll continue for now.