{"product_id":"the-master-of-contradictions-thomas-mann-and-the-making-of-the-magic-mountain-morten-h-i-jensen-hardcover","title":"The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of the Magic Mountain -- Morten Høi Jensen, Hardcover","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe arresting story of how Thomas Mann wrote \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e as a defeated Germany descended into political chaos\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Jensen brings to the subject the breadth of knowledge and the critical insight it demands, while maintaining a clear style and quick pace. The combination makes \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Master of Contradictions\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e the rare work of literary criticism with real appeal for the common reader.\"--Adam Kirsch, \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike many writers of his generation, Thomas Mann (1875-1955) welcomed the outbreak of the First World War. He viewed it as a spiritual necessity, a chance to reassert German cultural dominance over Western ideas of democracy and enlightenment. Then, in 1924, he published \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, a massive novel that culminates in the slaughter of war and foreshadows the Nazi terror to come. One of the central achievements of modernism, \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e bears testimony to its author's dramatic political reorientation as a defender of democracy. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis poignant book is a biography of Mann's great novel--its evolution from a short story into a two-volume masterpiece and one of the bestselling novels of the Weimar era. Deftly weaving together elements of biography, history, and literary criticism, Morten H i Jensen reveals how writing \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e against a backdrop of world war, revolution, hyperinflation, and rising right-wing terror moved Mann to embrace the democratic and humanistic ideas he once scorned. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne hundred years after \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e was first published, at a time when democratic ideas are again under threat, Jensen reveals the universality and timeliness of Mann's great novel--its still-resonant debates over democracy and tyranny, time and place, illness and death.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Morten Høi Jensen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10\/21\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.86 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 8.7\" H x 5.91\" L x 0.94\" W\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780300233742\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Flowerburst","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50526407524656,"sku":"9780300233742","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2712\/8368\/files\/9780300233742_9acc0cfa-3cd1-468e-9fd0-a732228cff66.jpg?v=1784226630","url":"https:\/\/flowerburst.co\/products\/the-master-of-contradictions-thomas-mann-and-the-making-of-the-magic-mountain-morten-h-i-jensen-hardcover","provider":"Flowerburst","version":"1.0","type":"link"}