Mann: Doctor Faustus

In Doctor Faustus, his last major novel, Thomas Mann attempted to interpret and judge Germany’s role in European culture and history since the Reformation. Through the figures of the solitary avant-garde composer, Adrian Leverkühn, and his often bemused biographer Serenus Zeitblom, Mann explores Germany’s self-understanding and self-assertion. The novel intermingles fiction and history in a narrative that combines complex psychological analysis, virtuoso stylistic parody and vivid evocation of atmosphere and milieu. Michael Beddow analyses the structure of the plot and explores the significance of its chief historical, theological, psychological and musical themes. He considers Mann’s understanding and modification of the Faust tradition, his thematic and formal indebtedness to Nietzsche and his interest in Adorno’s neo-Marxism. The study concludes with an account of the work’s generally hostile reception in defeated Germany.

• Mann is generally reckoned the greatest German novelist of the twentieth century • Doctor Faustus attempts to explore the essence of the German ‘national character’, which has recently become a topical debate again • this book provides a clear and incisive analysis of a complex work, and includes contextual information and guidance on further reading

Acknowledgements; Chronological table of Thomas Mann’s life; Table of Adrian Leverkühn’s life and works; Note on editions; 1. Antecedents; 2. An artist’s life; 3. Matters theological; 4. Germans; 5. Reception; 6. Further reading.