{"product_id":"the-master-of-contradictions-thomas-mann-and-the-making-of-the-magic-mountain-morten-hoi-jensen-hardcover","title":"The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of the Magic Mountain -- Morten Høi Jensen, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe arresting story of how Thomas Mann wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e as a defeated Germany descended into political chaos\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Like 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This 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\u003e One 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Morten Høi Jensen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/21\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300233742\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMorten Høi Jensen\u003c\/b\u003e is a Danish-American writer and critic. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Difficult Death: The Life and Work of Jens Peter Jacobsen\u003c\/i\u003e and has contributed to numerous publications, including the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCommonweal\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLiberties\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morten Høi Jensen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46864858251492,"sku":"9780300233742","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9780300233742.jpg?v=1761085607","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/the-master-of-contradictions-thomas-mann-and-the-making-of-the-magic-mountain-morten-hoi-jensen-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}