Doctor Faustus (Everyman's Library)

Thomas Mann was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and this was his last and perhaps his greatest novel. Reading it is a daunting challenge as it merges history with philosophy and religion with music history and composition. This novel requires great concentration. Sustained reading is however greatly rewarded. I am still mulling over much that is in this novel. Written and presented against the backdrop of the closing years of World War II and the horrors of Nazi Germany, the novel is also clearly a statement against Hitler and the Nazis, and Mann from exile was a determined opponent of the Nazis. A very important work of literature on several levels!!

What a delight to find one of the Everyman's Library books printed in the earlier edition style. There is no dust jacket, but the front of the cover is embossed in gold. For collectors who value the appearance and feel of a fine book this one brings a smile of satisfaction.Obviously, this rating is about the beauty of the package, not the content.

A giant, epic of a book. A masterpiece by a genius.

I wanted this book as a companion to my copy of Faust. The book itself is dimensionally smaller than I had expected. Perhaps I didn't read the description carefully enough. It's in the queue so I won't be reading it for a few weeks yet.

"What human beings have fought for and stormed citadels, what the ecstatics exultantly announced -- that is not to be. It will be taken back. I will take it back.""I don't quite understand, dear man. What will you take back?""The Ninth Symphony."

Beautiful book - one of my husband's favorites. A perfect Xmas present. Can recommend this edition to everyone!

In 1936 the German novelist Klaus Mann published a novel, “Mephisto”, in which he re-shaped the Faust legend to comment on the politics of Nazi Germany, from which he was in exile. Klaus Mann’s anti-hero was the actor Hendrik Höfgen (a fictitious character, but based upon the author’s brother-in-law Gustaf Gründgens) who specialises in playing Mephistopheles in Goethe’s “Faust”. Originally a Communist sympathiser, he abandons his left-wing ideals and embraces the Nazi regime for careerist reasons.Like son, like father. In 1943 Klaus’s father Thomas Mann began a novel, “Doctor Faustus”, in which he re-shaped the Faust legend to comment on the politics of Nazi Germany, from which he was in exile. The book was completed and published in 1947 after the collapse of the regime; it was to prove his last completed novel. (“Felix Krull” was left unfinished at his death). Thomas’s anti-hero is another creative artist, the composer Adrian Leverkühn, whose story is told in the form of a biography written by his lifelong friend Serenus Zeitblom.The nature of Leverkühn's Faustian bargain is very different to that of Höfgen, who only “sells his soul” in a metaphorical sense. Leverkühn, however, comes to believe that he has quite literally made a pact with the Devil, although this belief may only be a fantasy of his diseased mind. (Mann deliberately leaves ambiguous the question of whether his diabolical tempter is real or not). HIs pact does not involve political choices- he appears not to hold any strong political views- but involves a trade-off between creative genius and madness, as he is of the school of thought that believes the two are closely allied. Leverkühn also believes that as part of the price for his greatness he must also renounce love, like Wagner’s Wotan who was required to renounce love in exchange for power. (There are parallels between Leverkühn's life and that of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and parallels between his musical accomplishments and those of Arnold Schoenberg, who was by all accounts not best pleased by this back-handed compliment).Leverkühn may not be a political animal, but the novel is a deeply political one. The narrator Zeitblom, a decent German patriot of the old school, shares Mann’s despair at the moral collapse of his country under Nazi rule and his supposed biography of his friend is written between 1943 and 1947, the same years during which Mann was writing the novel. This does not, however, mean that he is to be equated with Mann himself- Zeitblom, for example, has remained in Germany and has not gone into exile. His unusual Christian name Serenus- the feminine form Serena is much more common- may have been intended to imply that he initially remains serene and uncommitted at a time when he should have been reacting in horror, not only to the events in his friend’s life but also to the wider political situation.Leverkühn's obsessions towards the end of his creative life are with the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment and with the Faust legend. His last two works are two oratorios, “Apocalypsis cum Figuris” and “The Lamentation of Doctor Faustus”, produced in 1926 and 1930 respectively, during the years leading up to the Nazi seizure of power, an event which can be seen as the German people’s own pact with the devil, leading ultimately to a secular apocalypse. (Although Leverkühn is a fictitious character, Mann occasionally introduces real individuals into his narrative. “Apocalypsis”, for example, is said to have been first performed by Otto Klemperer).This is a difficult, and highly complex, novel to read, and there is no way to do justice to all its many aspects in a review like this one. Its complexity lies in the demands which Mann makes of his readers- to make sense of it you need some knowledge not just of Classical music and musical theory but also of political and philosophical thought and of German history (and not just that of the Nazi period) literature and culture. Mann also makes reference to mediaeval German legends, not just the Faust story; an example is the legend of Gregorius, which he had himself earlier retold in “Der Erwählte”, literally “The Chosen One” but translated into English as “The Holy Sinner”.The translation here is by Mann’s original translator, H. T. Lowe-Porter. (There is also a more recent version by John E. Woods which I have not read). Lowe-Porter’s prose is not always the most readable, and at times her tone seems inappropriate. I am thinking in particular of the exchanges between Leverkühn and his mysterious Mephistophelean visitor, which are written in that curious dialect which has been called Ye Bogusse Olde Englishe. I understand that the corresponding passages in Mann’s text are written in an archaic German, but Lowe-Porter’s rendering never seems convincing, more like a parody of Shakespeare with a few bits of Chaucer thrown in.I note that some previous reviewers have compared “Doctor Faustus” with “The Magic Mountain”, which was the last work by Mann I read. I myself would be among those who would prefer "Doctor Faustus” to the earlier novel which, despite its greater length, seems to me to lack the richness and complexity of the later one. For all its difficulties, I have no hesitation in awarding this book the maximum mark. It is one of the greatest and most imaginative literary responses to the tragedy which overtook Mann’s native land in the last century.

I read bravely on, though 300 pages of marvelous but dull biographical prose. Nothing of consequence or of much interest happened. At page 300 I started skimming, stopping here and there to read a few pages. I read this book on the strength of Mann's lovely book "The Magic Mountain". This one was supposed to be an allegory on Germany's experience under Nazism. If an allegory is there, it is well hidden. It is difficult to imagine the writing of such a dull and stodgy book, much less the reading of it.

A beautiful Everyman's Library Edition. Came with a lovely cover and top quality.

An excellent translation of this absolute gem of literature. T. Mann's heyday.

I had been meaning to read this for decades. It can be a slog. But if you do some research on say YouTube and see " how to read and understand and critique " the book. Go back and re read. It comes alive. I am glad I got to finally read it.

Good quality...

This book is like no other I have encountered. However I must supply the warning that this book is certainly not for everyone.For me, though, Doctor Faustus is a perfect fit.It is more like reading speculative philosophy than a story, but by the fifth chapter I was quite wrapped up in the narrative as well. It is a true work of art. Worth the committment.