Thomas Mann: His Life and Work (documentary) 

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Tolstoy got it right here.

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” ~Thomas Mann.

I highly recommend Mann's novel, 'The Magic Mountain'. Any other fans of this book out there?

The terrible pain that Mann's life exemplifies, not just for him, but for his entire family, makes it clear how great has been this recent evolution of the perception of homosexuality. The conception of the homosexual as a monster was just that: a conception. The change from this condemning stance to acceptance and understanding is welcome.

Truly a great documentary of a very complicated man and family. Thank you for uploading this excellent film. Thank you to the creators of this film

Thank you for uploading this film.

What a great documentary! Extremely well done! Thank you so much!!!!!!

My mind is just blown away with such a tremendous life. Concerns about his sexuality, family, just like most human beings... Each day I become more and more a huge fan of his work and the human he was... Just transparent. Brilliant and immortal Thomas Mann !

This video is a psychological study of the Mann family rather than a serious examination of his work. I don't find much of interest in Mann's homoerotic obsessions, and they are clear enough to attentive readers in stories, such as "Death in Venice." But Mann is exceptional as a writer in the 20th century for his intellect; he doesn't write mere entertainments, but complex examinations of competing virtues. In "Tonio Kroger" and "Death in Venice," both early stories, he achieved a remarkable purity and intricacy of style that he never recaptured. I recommend them to those interested in writing as an art form. They compare favorably with the best of Proust, Joyce, James, and Conrad. But one wonders if he could even get published today. Modern publishers love melodramas, simple stories they can sell to Hollywood, and they despise ideas. Mann was the very antithesis of a modern mass market writer. Yet, had it not been for winning the Nobel Prize and his homoerotic stories, he might very easily have been forgotten altogether, like Ford Maddox Ford or Arthur Koestler. Literary fame is as much a matter of blind luck as genius. Mann was one of the lucky ones, the right writer at the right time.

Thanks for uploading this documentary. Cheers!

Thanks for posting this documentary. Thomas Mann's life, perhaps due to the destruction of his beloved Germany, was full of ironies, contradictions, and tragedies, but he was a great writer! I am still studying his Doctor Faustus, which, is indeed a master piece, but he is prolix...like anything deep and inaccesible ever produced by the prolific mind of an inexhaustible genius.

Tonio Kröger I read when doing German 1A , my first year of studying German and Zauberberg when I did German III. Also Tod in Venedig.and it was the that novella that gave me the key to the other two. Fascinating, repellent yet compelling.

I enjoyed every Thomas Mann book I read- all of them. my favorite is Dr. Faustus.

Thanks zecxixo, for this video. It is a horror story. I'd been wanting to know about T. Mann's mysterious life, because I admire his great novels, esp. Der Tod in Venedig, which the Italian film-maker Visconti brought to the screen in his masterpiece of the same name. Now that Venice is sinking beneath the waves due to climate change I was even more eager to know about Thomas Mann, but never found the time, so thanks. No matter how shocking and sad his private life his novels remain great masterpieces

This was such a nice documentary that really does shed light on a lot of the parallels between Manns personal life and his book about Felix Krull

amazing documentation, great job to all the people that worked in it

Not one of the family members attend the suicidal son's funeral ??? Good grief what a family encompassing such aversion to its members!

Great documentary!

Nice documentary of T. Mann. I've read a lot of his books. In the background of his life story the books make clear that he has put a lot of this in them.

Leaving the unpleasant side of Thomas Mann's private life aside, has anyone who read the book and/or saw the movie noticed how related it is for us today in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic? I think it's fascinating & dramatic the way the main character of the novel, Gustav von Aschenbach, begins to notice a sickening smell as Venetian authorities fumigate the city to prevent the plague from spreading. I suppose great works of art are always relevant

Fascinating biography. Mann was a beautiful writer. How he could turn a sentence to be full of meaning in a few words. How troubled and depressing was his family life both his birth family and his own family. Depression ran rampant through this family. 🥀 I’m glad the mother was finally able to express herself.

Thomas Mann no era un hombre muy amante ni apegado a la familia. Se casó y tuvo seis hijos, pero en realidad disfrutaba más de la compañía masculina que de la familia. Su mayor felicidad se las reportó su éxito como escritor, talento que le granjeó una fama inmortal y múltiples nominaciones y premios.

Anyone else here because they are reading Toibin’s The Magician?

Thank You. Amazing. ❤️

Lowkey this video is fire 🐐🐐🤧

I read “Der Zauberberg,” it was an amazing book. !

Great work.

What does he mean with "there are no suicides in Mann's novels"? Naphta shoots himself in the head intentionally, I'm pretty sure that counts as a suicide.

A tragedy of "keeping up appearances".

He's a major figure. A true rock. And a tragic one too.

nice docu, but so many wrong translations from the interviews. Also, Lübeck is located at the Baltic Sea, not at the North Sea, as stated.

Ahogyan olvastam klassz élete volt Thomos Mannak is, ahogyan megfosztották az állampolgárságától és az útlevelétől külön csoda. Hihetetlen, mintha a múlt visszatért volna a jelenbe. Jó ezt elolvasni, tiszta szolidaritás a múlttal. A regénybeli élményei számomra nem kell magyarzázni, simán össze tudom kapcsolni a saját meglévő élményeimmel. Klassz író volt. Érdemes Bulgakovval összehasonlítani egy összehasonlító mű és életrajz elemzéssel. Igen klassz képet ad az 1930-as évek valóságáról. Bulgakov és Mann megunhatatlan páros két élet két országban kétféle kimenettel a végén. Érdemes összevetni őket, igazi kór-társak voltak tökéletes páros vagy páratlan párost alkotnak, ahogyan az embertelenség szemfényvesztését leírják.

I will soon be reading it for a second time.

The best book I read about his life and work is The Magician by Colm Toibi, a true masterpiece by a genius writer..

Erschreckend, dass es über den bedeutendsten deutschen Autor des 20. Jahrhunderts keine derartige Dokumentation in deutscher Sprache auf RU-vid gibt.

i love the books of mann, a brilliant writer

Un buen escritor. Con notables obras en su haber.

I read a note on Dr Faust in which they speak of a personal misterious experience of Mann in Naples which envolved an alleged murders with sexual proclivities, it stated that this was Manns best kept secret, however it followed him for the rest of his life. If you have this in mind you will notice that blades and blood and death are a common occurrence in his novels, as well as italy being represented as a mystic and violent place. Such image is more easily observed in The magic mountain and Dr Faust

Thanks so much for uploading this video. Does anybody know which year this documentary was made?

Money doesn't buy happiness

Sehr interessant

Why the Gershwin prelude, pray tell?

Aquel joven escritor que escribió exelentes novelas.

The translations are so inaccurate, it's horrible.

I need the soundtrack used in this documentary

I notice many similarities between myself and Mann...a tendency to fall into a passionate and obsessive love of someone, but which is not returned with the same intensity or mode of feeling...a natural suicidal temperament exacerbated by these painful experiences of love

One of the great reads, Death in Venice; Ashenbach the aging writer's obsession with the young Pole, Tadzio. 'Where else could be better?' sums up Ashenbach on Venice, but the cholera epidemic is closing in on his Venetian reverie.

Good documentary. But the voice over translations from German are catastrophically incorrect.

A very interesting documentary. I'm a fan of Thomas Mann and read a lot about his personal life but there were many details that were brought in this documentary that I didn't know about, and above all photographs and videos of his family members that I haven't seen before. But I have to say, that what is said in the documentary about Mann's infatuation and sexual attraction to his own son shook me and disgusted me to the point of thinking about getting rid of all the books that I have of his.

I have his 'Buddenbrooks' should i read it?

"He went the way that go he must - a little idly, a little irregularly, whistling to himself... and if he went wrong, it was because for some people there is no such thing as a right way. Asked what in the world he meant to become, he gave various answers, for he was used to saying that he bore within himself the possibility of a thousand ways of life, together with the private conviction that they were all sheer impossibilities." {-T.Mann, from "Tonio K."}

Grande Escritor, de mãe brasileira que forjou sua formação. Documentário fraco, tinha que ser dos EUA: não se aprofunda na(s) obra(s), que é grandiosa. Nada mal, porém, mostrar sem pudores seus desejos homossexuais e o contexto histórico.

Sería genial que tradujeran el documental al español!!!. Gracias.

El de la Montaña Mágica.

Can hardly wait to see what #literarycritic Baumgart has to say.

Bitte mal weiterhelfen. Komme eben nicht auf den Titel der Eingangsmusik.

Most writers and artists are not ideal people. They deal with pain, sorrow and their own demons, while social taboos and religious repressions destroy them from the inside.

Many mysteries around Thomas Mann, especially after Dr. Faustus. And many lies as well.

What a sick puppy !! Gives me the willies!

❤

Slacker: well named.

Hello

07:06 "not far from the shores of the Baltic Sea" would be correct

Are all Mann's related?

It’s not correct to assign blame for the suicide as “family conflicts.” This is absurd. Mental illness is an illness. It has strong genetic causes as well as environmental.

...his son's insanity..." when talking of TM's son taking his own life. Since when was insanity the defintion of suicide?

Much more about his life than his work. I would have liked some analysis of the great novels Buddenbrooks (only some autobiographical elements mentioned) and The Magic Mountain (mentioned only by title), not all of this unearthing of homosexuality and family problems.

Er war Opportunist. Erst sagt er einem er liebe es Amerikaner zu sein, um ein paar Tage später den Presseleuten von seinem Deutschtum zu berichten. Er war in den USA gut aufgehoben...

Some of the psychological interpretations are laughably dated.

38:52 warren buffett's germany twin?

My friend name is Thomas mann they could be related

30:30: This is obviously rather dated., Karl Werner Böhm, one of the commenters, said that Thomas Mann was a self-hating homosexual (which he largely was), yet in literally the same breath Böhm says that, just like himself, as a homosexual, Mann had no business having children. He also says that Mann's son Klaus "developed into a homosexual." It is incredibly ironic that he sees Mann as self-hating but doesn't appreciate his own internalized homophobia which is so blatantly demonstrated by his beliefs that someone "turns into" a homosexual rather than understanding it as an innate trait, and that just because someone is gay means they can not and do not make fine parents, and in many cases, even better parents than their heterosexual counterparts.

felix krull is number one for sure read it now

Å NEI det vil jeg ikke ha LOL!!!

i thought Thomas was homosexual....was he not...

The Magic Mountain is intolerable, Mann insists on using Hans Castorp's full name throughout. Hans Castorp thought this and Hans Castorp did that and then Hans Castorp had a thought and Hans Castorp sat down and then Hans Castorp stood up and so on and on and on....what kind of writer does that?

What a screwed up family.

Ugh all this Freud-speak is too much.

Christina Aguilera has done more to humanity than Thomas Mann ever did. Just saying ✨

I've always considered Mann to be as overrated as he was boring.

He was in the fifties the undisputed master, but now not many readers care for him. His Joseph tetralogy is filled with outdated anthropological theories, digressions which make the reader feel that the author is simply showing off. His Dr Faustus did not really grip me (I understand the allegorical meaning of Germany selling it's soul to the Nazi devil, the parallels between the protagonist and Nietzsche, the allusions to Luther and germanic mythology, the variations in style and diction...), But it just sometimes feel that Thomas Mann is really dead. I read many of his books but liked just a very few of them; Death in Venice, the Confessions of Felix Krull, some short stories... Herman Hesse is very slender if we compare him to Thomas Mann, nevertheless every generation discovers a new approach to his vision of the world and art, and finds inspiration and new meaning in his books, unlike Thomas Mann who is really dead I'm afraid to say.