Six Early Stories

by Thomas Mann, Peter Constantine (Translator), Burton Pike (Introduction)

Newly out in paperback from Sun & Moon Classics, Peter Constantine
translates six early stories from the German Modernist.

Genres: Short Stories, German Literature, Fiction, Literature, Classics

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

See also:
Serbian: Tomas Man

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate in 1929, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur.

Reviews

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When, in the throes of intense happiness or sorrow, man despairs of confiding in another human being, he will often turn to nature to vent the overabundance of his emotions, which, in its mighty serenity, at times really seems to understand what's happening." (74)

This collection of six early stories by Mann includes A Vision / "Prose Sketch" (1893), Fallen (1894), The Will to Happiness (1896), Death (1897), Avenged / "Study for a Novella" (1899), and Anecdote (1908). The stories are experimental in nature and foreshadow many of the themes to which Mann would return in his later works. The short pieces—most of which are ironic, post-Nietzschean, psychological sketches—are interesting as preludes to what is to come, but they're also nice to read in their own right.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice short stories (in some cases very short). Very quick read. I would have given if four stars but I found the Introduction to be overblown. I wish the book were longer.

[Sladjana Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Mann-Six early stories
👍Mlađahni i poletni Man,iz koga na momente izbija intelekt i dubina karakteristična za kasnija dela. Zbirka veoma kratkih ali jako dobrih priča.
🔮A Vision,"Prose Sketch" -jedna zanimljiva halucinacija
😞Fallen-mladalačka zaljubljenost i razočarenje
🖌The Will to happiness
"Was it not simply will,the will to happiness,that had enabled him to keep death at bay for such a long time?"
Umetnik i čovek,opstajanje zbog i uprkos,sve dok postoji neki cilj.
☠Death
"-I think it best to get down to it right away! -The sound of it! It went right through me!"
Predskazanje,iščekivanje i jezivi obrt na kraju.
💃Avenged
Verovatno prvi u nizu jakih,emancipovanih ženskih likova koji će obeležiti Manov rad kasnije
🌬Anecdote
Nešto kao ženski Felix Krül...možda🤔 😁
👍Early,young and sparkling Mann,showing signs of intellect and depth of a futur great writer. Really short but very good stories.
🔮A Vision
Very interesting hallucination
😞Fallen
Young man's love and deception
🖌The Will to Happiness
An artist. A man. The will to live because and in spite,as long as there is a goal in front of him
☠Death
Prophecy,inpending doom,and chilling plot twist
💃Avenged
Probably the frst of many Mann's emancipated,strong female characters
🌬Anecdote
Female Felix Krül...or not? 🤔😁

[mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

love the progression of his prose (3.5)

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool how raw & ratty the stories start out as, then u feel kinda depressed cos the guys is prolly like way younger than you when he wrote it

lots of moralist artists trying 2 tear the veil of maya

Three short autumn days, and Death will enter my room - - how will he behave? Will he treat me like a worm? Will he seize me by the throat and strangle me? Or will he plunge his hand into my brain? But I think of him as grand and beautiful, and of a wild majesty!


He could say with General Tilly that he had never lost a battle and never touched a woman. In the first case, because he had not had the opportunity, and in the second case again because he had not had the opportunity. <--- lol


"It is the close intimacy of our minds, which has become indispensable to me, in contrast to the distinct aversino which I have for you physically."
Silence.
^^^^ lollll

[David Haws · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than a century out, there's not much here to recommend the stories and sketches. While difficult to judge in translation, the prose feels good, but I probably need to look at one of Mann's longer narratives.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this little book 5 stars despite the last story being lackluster. Thomas Mann delights us in beautiful tales touched with a hint nostalgia. Mann contemplates life, death, love, and beauty, exploring complex affairs with precision.

[Jay Cardam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting early short stories of Mann. Especially liked "The Will to Happiness"

[Michael Heitmanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fucking good!

[Ahmed magdy mahrous · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية موت

[Caleb Weingarten · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most moving collections of stories I have read.

[Tarek Azad · Rating 3 out of 5]

My intro to Thomas Mann, well written and worth the read.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burned through this in one sitting at a bookstore then put it back on the shelf 😈
Clean prose with a lovely rhythm.... This beaste has gotten his first taste of Mann and he shall surely go back for more..

[Viet · Rating 3 out of 5]

from "Death":

"Today I read the story of that Emperor Frederick who, it was prophesied, would die sub flore. So he avoided cities like Florence and Florentinum, but one day he did go to Florentium—and died. Why did he die?
"A prophecy is insignificant in itself. The question is, will the prophecy take root in you? If it does, then it is as good as proven, and will come true."

[Sheri-lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

These brief forays into Thomas Mann are nice little reads. I had a good laugh out loud moment:

"...she was thirty years old, a large person with a flat chest, flat hips, light-greenish eyes incapable of looking confused, an extraordinarily fleshy nose, and a drab hairstyle of an indifferent blond. Her plain, dark brown dress was as bare of coquetry and decoration as her hands. I had never seen such unequivocal and resolute ugliness in a woman. <...>for the physical charm of this intellectual woman was that of a broom."

[KristenR · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting last night in a fit of insomnia. Beautiful, sad stories.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

The farther along this one went, the lamer (and more literary) things seemed to get.