Yes! “Buddenbrooks” is one of the greatest novels ever written— the culmination of the Realist tradition. It is also a novel that appeals to nearly everyone, not a quality one associates with Mann’s other major novels.
I know many people who resist reading “Buddenbrooks” because they fear it is formidably intellectual. Once they start reading it, they can’t stop.
Henry, I'm inspired to read it. I read it decades ago when I was in my twenties , which means it will be fresh, almost a first read. Which translation did you read?
Also, did you read Colm Toibin's fictional biography of TM, The Magician? I thought it was terrific.
I read the John E Woods trans and find it very good—I think the other one is quite old. I have not read any Toibin! But once I have read more Mann I will certainly try it
Fantastic book. Probably Mann's best. The nuances are just so spot on. They are almost cruel. It is also quite representative of the Northern German milieu of that time.
I can't get over how he -Mann- k n e w, being so very young, how acutely he understood people. There is something outwordly in his genius.
And -not to spoil- but it's, for me, with some of the saddest books I have read. One gets attached , really attached...and it's so, so painful. Toward the end.
The book I love so much, and is so poignant, that I'm scared to re-read it. It's akin to going to same funeral again, or so it feels now. Maybe it'll change, or so I hope, for I love re-reading: one always learns something new as he himself changes since too.
Call me a heretic but I found Buddenbrooks far more affecting than The Magic Mountain - it is both inspiring and depressing to think that anyone saw so much or wrote so well so young.
YES!!!! I read this book in February on vacation in Cancun, with the odd sensation of traveling between North Germany and the tropical sea. I loved this book so much. The ending is a gut punch (but then it's right there in the title). In his book "Wagnerism", Alex Ross discusses Mann's Ring Cycle inspiration (both begin with a real estate deal) in crafting the book, and its leitmotifs (e.g. Antoine's invocation of all who had wronged her). So many layers to this amazing novel. Bergman's Fanny and Alexander must've been inspired by Buddenbrooks (The opening Christmas scenes are basically an adaptation). I really hope this becomes the Substack novel of the Spring.
The last three chapters took my breath away individually as pieces of writing and as a whole - I couldn't have imagined a more moving ending to the novel. They're on a level with the best ones in Anna Karenina or Middlemarch. I'm envious of you because you're about to read them for the first time!
Henry, I just want you to know how you are enriching this long since retired man's life. I recited Prufrock to the great pleasure of my dinner companions last night and am starting Buddenbrooks. And your Britt's eye view of life here, appreciative but clear eyed, shines a warm light on life that does continue on here behind the headlines.
It's the only Mann novel I've so far refused to read, on the grounds that his leisurely prose might be a bit too much for me in such a hefty book. Well, I may have to try now. P.S. I love the description of the (wildly unsuccessful) business ventures in Confessions of Zeno. P.P.S. have you seen: Song, F. Why Strawson’s Basic Argument Is Not Impressive: an Answer from Frankfurt, Christman and Ekstrom. Philosophia 48, 1595–1607 (2020)..?
I join the chorus singing the praises of 'Buddenbrooks'.....also want to thank you for introducting me to Strawson's The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility'. Thought of it as my rabbit-hole of the today when I first clicked on the link but am finding a volcano of thinking and reflection.
Strawson's argument is a sleight of hand, at least as he presents it in the article to which Henry Oliver provided a link. Strawson-- Galen, incidentally; his father Peter famously approached the matter quite differently-- starts with "moral responsibility" and switches to "real" or "ultimate" moral responsibility without a proper account, with the consequence that his entire argument is an exercise in begging the question in the original, philosophical, sense of assuming what one is supposed to demonstrate. I don't mean that the argument is without merit, though I do find it dishearteningly over-rated. If you decide to look into this topic some more, you may find compatibilists to be the most illuminating and persuasive, especially those who are empiricists and stress the relevance of biology rather than, say, physics or neurology.
One wonders how helpful one can be in these AI days, but here are a few recommendations re: compatibilism:
• The famous weathervane analogy is a good starting point. It reorients one’s thinking to goal-directed behavior/action and the processes and competencies involved in such behavior/action. It also has the considerable advantage of showing how and why there are the various well-recognized types of threats and/or limitations to acting freely/responsibly, e.g., altered states, addictions, compulsions, ignorance, disabilities, weakness of will, coercion, undue influence, manipulation, and deceit. The specification of the analogue is fairly simple, though certainly more complex than a weathervane and vastly richer than the dominant abstraction in Galen Strawson’s argument: “the way you are”. But the specification can be made much richer without doing any harm to the analogy. On that front, I recommend Berent Enc’s book How We Act: Causes, Reasons, and Intentions. Especially relevant in this context is his account of voluntary action.
• Probably the most famous compatibilist in the last few decades has been Daniel Dennett (recently deceased). His two books Elbow Room and Freedom Evolves are both not only good but also accessible, engaging, and fairly brief. I’m sure you can also find videos of him discussing the topic online.
• And then there’s Peter (or P.F.) Stawson, Galen’s father, and so-called “Neo-Strawsonians” who draw our attention away from metaphysics toward practical and participatory contexts in which taking and assigning responsibility, offering and accepting or rejecting excuses, and so on, are deep and indispensable components of social life, and should be understood and appreciated accordingly, from the inside, as it were (think, for example, of Wittgenstein on language games)
I really appreciate this and will start tracking down your recommendations. I have listened to some of Daniel Dennett's interviews, so I am familiar with the name. Otherwise I have a new horizon to explore.....would you mind a future question or two about these readings in the future?
Note the anachronistic language in the passage below, the frequent use of the words "emergent" and "emerging", the emphasis on "information discovered" and "preferences" and "choices" and finally, the inevitable reference to "prices adjusted". All this is even Hayek (never mind Mann) before his time :
"Every little detail is an emergent piece of information about people’s preferences and choices—and the consequences of their choices. In every little detail about dressing-gowns and fine wines, Mann shows us how “personal involvement” creates the every-emerging world. This passage is Mann pointing the reader towards a way of reading his novel. In the choices we make, we pull upon the strings of the web of society and commerce, and each little tug becomes information discovered, prices adjusted, fortunes rising, falling, fluctuating. There is no separation of work and life, economy and home, in Buddenbrooks. Mann sees that we are all part of the emergent order of society."
This is, I suppose, the result of the vulgar shoehorning of great literature into an ideological mold. Henry Oliver--newly employed at the Mercatus Center, the libertarian center of American Academy--needs to justify his humanist values to pay for his employment.
So, how better than to take one of the great works of 20th century literature and make it into a sly paean to the life-giving qualities of commerce and the market--even if it is all in the background?
Yes! “Buddenbrooks” is one of the greatest novels ever written— the culmination of the Realist tradition. It is also a novel that appeals to nearly everyone, not a quality one associates with Mann’s other major novels.
I know many people who resist reading “Buddenbrooks” because they fear it is formidably intellectual. Once they start reading it, they can’t stop.
I was totally swept up what a wonderful charming book
I was totally swept up (twice) in this review. Sublime.
Henry, I'm inspired to read it. I read it decades ago when I was in my twenties , which means it will be fresh, almost a first read. Which translation did you read?
Also, did you read Colm Toibin's fictional biography of TM, The Magician? I thought it was terrific.
I read the John E Woods trans and find it very good—I think the other one is quite old. I have not read any Toibin! But once I have read more Mann I will certainly try it
Fantastic book. Probably Mann's best. The nuances are just so spot on. They are almost cruel. It is also quite representative of the Northern German milieu of that time.
I can't get over how he -Mann- k n e w, being so very young, how acutely he understood people. There is something outwordly in his genius.
And -not to spoil- but it's, for me, with some of the saddest books I have read. One gets attached , really attached...and it's so, so painful. Toward the end.
The book I love so much, and is so poignant, that I'm scared to re-read it. It's akin to going to same funeral again, or so it feels now. Maybe it'll change, or so I hope, for I love re-reading: one always learns something new as he himself changes since too.
Thank you for writing about it, Henry.
Call me a heretic but I found Buddenbrooks far more affecting than The Magic Mountain - it is both inspiring and depressing to think that anyone saw so much or wrote so well so young.
YES!!!! I read this book in February on vacation in Cancun, with the odd sensation of traveling between North Germany and the tropical sea. I loved this book so much. The ending is a gut punch (but then it's right there in the title). In his book "Wagnerism", Alex Ross discusses Mann's Ring Cycle inspiration (both begin with a real estate deal) in crafting the book, and its leitmotifs (e.g. Antoine's invocation of all who had wronged her). So many layers to this amazing novel. Bergman's Fanny and Alexander must've been inspired by Buddenbrooks (The opening Christmas scenes are basically an adaptation). I really hope this becomes the Substack novel of the Spring.
The last three chapters took my breath away individually as pieces of writing and as a whole - I couldn't have imagined a more moving ending to the novel. They're on a level with the best ones in Anna Karenina or Middlemarch. I'm envious of you because you're about to read them for the first time!
I just read this last month, and was just flabbergasted at how great it was — and that it was produced by Mann in his early twenties.
As good as Buddenbrooks is, The Magic Mountain is even better. A cruel sequel.
Henry, I just want you to know how you are enriching this long since retired man's life. I recited Prufrock to the great pleasure of my dinner companions last night and am starting Buddenbrooks. And your Britt's eye view of life here, appreciative but clear eyed, shines a warm light on life that does continue on here behind the headlines.
Keep at it. I know you will. You can't help it.
Delighted to hear it :)
Do please write more about it , once you finish it.
This was the only work of his I had not read in my youth. So, I had the enormous pleasure of coming to it in old age. Very happy for you.
It's the only Mann novel I've so far refused to read, on the grounds that his leisurely prose might be a bit too much for me in such a hefty book. Well, I may have to try now. P.S. I love the description of the (wildly unsuccessful) business ventures in Confessions of Zeno. P.P.S. have you seen: Song, F. Why Strawson’s Basic Argument Is Not Impressive: an Answer from Frankfurt, Christman and Ekstrom. Philosophia 48, 1595–1607 (2020)..?
I join the chorus singing the praises of 'Buddenbrooks'.....also want to thank you for introducting me to Strawson's The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility'. Thought of it as my rabbit-hole of the today when I first clicked on the link but am finding a volcano of thinking and reflection.
Strawson's argument is a sleight of hand, at least as he presents it in the article to which Henry Oliver provided a link. Strawson-- Galen, incidentally; his father Peter famously approached the matter quite differently-- starts with "moral responsibility" and switches to "real" or "ultimate" moral responsibility without a proper account, with the consequence that his entire argument is an exercise in begging the question in the original, philosophical, sense of assuming what one is supposed to demonstrate. I don't mean that the argument is without merit, though I do find it dishearteningly over-rated. If you decide to look into this topic some more, you may find compatibilists to be the most illuminating and persuasive, especially those who are empiricists and stress the relevance of biology rather than, say, physics or neurology.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. I would like to look into this topic some more, so do you have a recommendation (s) where to go next?
One wonders how helpful one can be in these AI days, but here are a few recommendations re: compatibilism:
• The famous weathervane analogy is a good starting point. It reorients one’s thinking to goal-directed behavior/action and the processes and competencies involved in such behavior/action. It also has the considerable advantage of showing how and why there are the various well-recognized types of threats and/or limitations to acting freely/responsibly, e.g., altered states, addictions, compulsions, ignorance, disabilities, weakness of will, coercion, undue influence, manipulation, and deceit. The specification of the analogue is fairly simple, though certainly more complex than a weathervane and vastly richer than the dominant abstraction in Galen Strawson’s argument: “the way you are”. But the specification can be made much richer without doing any harm to the analogy. On that front, I recommend Berent Enc’s book How We Act: Causes, Reasons, and Intentions. Especially relevant in this context is his account of voluntary action.
• Probably the most famous compatibilist in the last few decades has been Daniel Dennett (recently deceased). His two books Elbow Room and Freedom Evolves are both not only good but also accessible, engaging, and fairly brief. I’m sure you can also find videos of him discussing the topic online.
• And then there’s Peter (or P.F.) Stawson, Galen’s father, and so-called “Neo-Strawsonians” who draw our attention away from metaphysics toward practical and participatory contexts in which taking and assigning responsibility, offering and accepting or rejecting excuses, and so on, are deep and indispensable components of social life, and should be understood and appreciated accordingly, from the inside, as it were (think, for example, of Wittgenstein on language games)
I really appreciate this and will start tracking down your recommendations. I have listened to some of Daniel Dennett's interviews, so I am familiar with the name. Otherwise I have a new horizon to explore.....would you mind a future question or two about these readings in the future?
Of course I wouldn't mind. Happy reading and thinking. All the best...
Note the anachronistic language in the passage below, the frequent use of the words "emergent" and "emerging", the emphasis on "information discovered" and "preferences" and "choices" and finally, the inevitable reference to "prices adjusted". All this is even Hayek (never mind Mann) before his time :
"Every little detail is an emergent piece of information about people’s preferences and choices—and the consequences of their choices. In every little detail about dressing-gowns and fine wines, Mann shows us how “personal involvement” creates the every-emerging world. This passage is Mann pointing the reader towards a way of reading his novel. In the choices we make, we pull upon the strings of the web of society and commerce, and each little tug becomes information discovered, prices adjusted, fortunes rising, falling, fluctuating. There is no separation of work and life, economy and home, in Buddenbrooks. Mann sees that we are all part of the emergent order of society."
This is, I suppose, the result of the vulgar shoehorning of great literature into an ideological mold. Henry Oliver--newly employed at the Mercatus Center, the libertarian center of American Academy--needs to justify his humanist values to pay for his employment.
So, how better than to take one of the great works of 20th century literature and make it into a sly paean to the life-giving qualities of commerce and the market--even if it is all in the background?