'Exploring how thought becomes emotion'

 

“Thetask of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” –Thomas Mann
Born in Germany on this date in 1875, Mann was the1929 Nobel Prize winner for his symbolic and ironic novels and novellas, notedfor their insight and exemplary development of “the idea.”  Among the first to speak out against both Naziismand Adolph Hitler, he fled Germany to exile to Britain in the mid-1930s.    In 1936 his German citizenship was revoked,and Mann became an even more active crusader against the Nazis, creating aseries of BBC broadcasts speaking out against the repressive regime. 
Becauseof his popularity as a writer and speaker, he was a serious threat to Hitler,prompting the German dictator to put him on his “most wanted” list forexecution if he was ever caught.  It wasthen that Mann relocated to the U.S. where he lived until his death in 1955,continuing his writing of thoughtful and thought-provoking essays.   Mannsaid he loved exploring how to “use words” to share not only ideas butemotions.   “The writer's joy is thethought that can become emotion,” he said, “and conversely in seeing how theemotion can wholly become a thought.”