Mario and the Magician

by Thomas Mann

Mario and the Magician is one of Mann's most political stories. Mann openly criticizes fascism, a choice which later became one of the grounds for his exile to Switzerland following Hitler's rise to power. The sorcerer, Cipolla, is analogous to the fascist dictators of the era with their fiery speeches and rhetoric. The story was especially timely, considering the tensions in Europe when it was written. Stalin had just seized power in Russia, Mussolini was urging Italians to recapture the glory of the Roman Empire, and Hitler with his rhetoric was quickly gaining steam in Germany.

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

47 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

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

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobel Prize laureate and fabulous anti-Nazi intellectual Thomas Mann constructs a striking although rather superficial allegory about the power of fascism. I’ve shelved this on my These Fragile Lives shelf but really I should have created a new shelf for it entitled These Fragile Minds, So Easily Hypnotized and Led Astray. The novel describes a family’s unpleasant summer spent in sweltering southern Italy. Over the course of their vacation they encounter repulsive fawning towards royalty from hotel staff, virulent prudishness from obnoxious suburban and provincial types, and finally a bizarre stage show where a grotesque magician hypnotizes audience members, forcing them to engage in various unseemly pantomimes. The whole thing ends in bloodshed and hysteria.

Gaze upon the floating head!
Do as the floating head commands!



I loved the prose. Despite this being a translated work, Mann’s formal and rather byzantine writing style is front and center, and that style is probably key to whether or not a reader responds to the political analysis lurking within. Some can dig it while to others it may feel laborious, overworked. For me, the ornate and opaque quality of the writing was entrancing. The slowly escalating tension and dread, the feeling that something awful is just about to happen was also quite appealing.

At first I thought Mann’s allegory was too simplistic and that he loaded the deck in favor of the points he wanted to make. The magician is pure grotesquerie: a crippled little weirdo with an inferiority complex, downing shots and cracking a whip, straight outta some penny dreadful. And of course he’s a hypnotist - there can be no other explanation for why normal, decent people would do as ordered, there must be hypnosis involved, it has nothing to do with the selfish choices that people can make all on their own and/or the repulsive group-think people automatically engage in that can lead to the rise of fascism. Sure, only hypnosis could achieve fascism! *cynical laugh*

But then I thought of Hitler and Mussolini and I wondered. To my modern eyes, they both seem like such weird, loathsome creatures and they’d still seem like that even if I had no idea who they were or what they did. Just look at them. Just listen to them. Ridiculous, cartoonishly grotesque buffoons right outta some penny dreadful. And yet they hypnotized nations. The susceptibility of humankind to all sorts of monsters is so mind-boggling to contemplate. Maybe Mann’s way of looking at it is the only way to look at it without actually losing all faith in the ability of human beings to make positive choices. “Humanity is easily hypnotized” definitely feels better than “humanity will do as it’s told, no matter the cost.”

Anyway, Mann wrote this in 1929. It did not endear him to the German government. In 1939 he emigrated to the USA. During World War 2 he publicly denounced Nazism and broadcasted his views monthly to Germans, in German, via the BBC.

What a cutie and I'm a big fan of that moustache:



I said earlier that the novella ends in bloodshed and hysteria. That’s only partially true. It also ends in a gunshot. A gunshot that releases the hypnotized masses, a gunshot of liberation. Definitely one of the more ringing endorsements for assassination that I’ve encountered on the page.



4 of 16 in Sixteen Short Novels

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel "Mario and the magician: a tragic travel experience" (1930) by Thomas Mann was generally accepted by critics as a narrative with an eminently political and anti-fascist bias. Read against the backdrop of "Death in Venice," it has also been considered an example of homoerotic literature. Here, we seek to overcome the impasses of biased and conflicting interpretations. It proposes a reading that contemplates the ethical tension between manipulation and resistance as the generator of the soap opera's deep conflict.

[Paula Mota · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu e as alegorias não somos amigas, raramente nos damos bem. Junte-se a isso ilusionismo, que abomino, e o cliché da personagem com algum tipo de deformação para fazer realçar a sua maldade, e tem-se uma leitura que não passa de sofrível.
Na chegada a uma estância balnear italiana, uma família sente-se imediatamente discriminada por ser estrangeira, através de várias microagressões que apontam para o crescimento do nacionalismo em Itália nos anos 20 do século passado.

Em Itália, cuja grandeza não tem lugar para a ignorância e o obscurantismo, não existem analfabetos. É uma piada de mau gosto lançar aqui em voz alta, perante esta sociedade internacional, uma acusação com a qual vos humilhais a vós próprios como também expondes à maledicência o nosso governo e o nosso país.

Numa noite, vão assistir ao espectáculo de magia de Cavaliere Cipolla, um ilusionista com uma poderosa retórica, capaz de hipnotizar toda a assistência e obrigá-la a submeter-se à sua vontade. Preto no branco, a alegoria do fascismo.

Este altivo corcunda era o hipnotizador com maiores poderes que eu vira em toda a minha vida. Ao atirar areia aos olhos do público quanto à natureza das suas habilidades e ao anunciar-se como um mestre de destreza, pelos vistos, apenas tivera em mente rodear normas policiais que interdiziam drasticamente a prática profissional de tais artes.

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mario y el Mago es una excelente narración corta en la que Thomas Mann (aunque muchos lo nieguen) se mofa y toma a sátira la época del gobierno fascista de Benito Mussolini (el cuento fue escrito en 1929, poco después de que Mann recibiera el Premio Nobel de Literatura.
Es digno de destacar la manera en que el autor alemán, por un lado describe a la burguesía del pueblo de Torre di Venere a partir de un par de anécdotas que el narrador de la historia cuenta cuando llega a ese pueblo junto con su familia y posteriormente, todos juntos van a presenciar el espectáculo de magia de un supuesto prestidigitador bastante turbio llamado Cipolla (Cebolla, vaya nombre para un mago).
Transcurridos los aburridos trucos de magia que enloquecen al populacho pero aburren al narrador, Cipolla pondrá en marcha un truco de magia para el que necesita de un colaborador y es aquí en donde entra Mario, el camarero del pueblo.
Hay que destacar el poder narrativo de Mann. Nunca desentona, es sólido y nos ofrece un final tan distinto al resto de la historia como también completamente inesperado.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Mann blijft voor mij een van de allergrootste romanschrijvers. Zijn weergaloze De Toverberg en zijn bloedmooie De Dood in Venetië las ik intussen twee keer en dat wil ik dringend ook doen met Doctor Faustus. Deze novelle kende ik niet echt, maar als de geweldige Koenraad Tinel er een rauwe, donkere graphic novel uit puurt, in samenwerking met vertaalster Els Snick, dan is dat een onweerstaanbare combinatie.

'Mario en de Magiër' ontvouwt zich van bij de eerste zinnen als onheilspellend. De manier waarop het kuststadje Torre di Venere wordt geïntroduceerd ademt de broeierige sfeer uit van de gondeltocht in 'De Dood in Venetië'. De sombere kleuren en onrustige lijnen van Koenraad Tinels houtskool, bister en inkt versterken dat meteen.

Laat op het seizoen arriveert een Weens gezin met jonge kinderen in de badstad. Hun strandvakantie verloopt niet onbewogen: eerst worden ze weggekeken en vervolgens weggejaagd uit het Grand Hotel door hautaine gasten en wanneer ze een veel gemoedelijker pension vinden, brengt een te verwaarlozen onachtzaamheid hen in een lastig parket. Toch besluiten ze te blijven ... terwijl op de achterflap reeds te lezen staat: 'Waren we maar helemaal uit Torre di Venere vertrokken! Dan hadden we dat onzalige optreden van die ellendige Cipolla kunnen vermijden.'

Cipolla is een duivelse, misvormde, verachtelijke illusionist en hypnotiseur die een schaamteloze show weggeeft in een verwaarloosd theaterzaaltje. Een show die meer dan de helft van de graphic novel in beslag neemt. Eerst nog onderhuids, maar na een tijdje expliciet sijpelen fascistische elementen de show binnen, met Cipolla als een manipulatieve, ontmenselijkende dictator die voor niets terugdeinst en ieders wil plooit en misbruikt vanuit zijn superieure machtspositie als hypnotiseur.

Spek voor de bek van Koenraad Tinel die wild tekeer kan gaan in zijn groteske, karikaturale en daardoor ook altijd waarschuwende en aan de kaak stellende beeldtaal. Het rauwe, harde en afschuwelijke wordt door Thomas Mann meesterlijk versterkt door het te laten contrasteren met de onschuld van de aanwezige kinderen van het gezin die de show bijwonen en de sympathiekere personages die het gezin heeft leren kennen.

Kortom: een heerlijk duistere cocktail van actueel aanvoelende literatuur en tijdloos krachtige tekeningen. Onweerstaanbaar goed!

[BrokenTune · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soll man »abreisen«, wenn das Leben sich ein bißchen unheimlich, nicht ganz geheuer oder etwas peinlich und kränkend anläßt? Nein doch, man soll bleiben, soll sich das ansehen und sich dem aussetzen, gerade dabei gibt es vielleicht etwas zu lernen.

[tr. Should we "leave" when life is a bit eerie, not quite harsh, or a little embarrassing and ailing? No, you should stay, look at it and expose yourself to it, there may just be something to learn from it.]

It is spooky when a book that was written a long time ago and comments on an impending catastrophe, reflects - or seems to reflect - current affairs.

Mario and the Magician was written in 1930 and describes the rise of fascism in Italy. I had no idea the novella would be about this. I was intrigued by the title simply because Thomas Mann was called "the Magician" by his children, which was not was this story was about at all.

But there we have it, two sides of the coin: what can appear charming, entertaining, and imaginative by some, may also be used to destroy. An allegory used marvellously by Mann, whose grotesque magician Cipolla binds his audience by hypnotism to obey his commands, and whose disrespect for the dignity of the townspeople culminates in destruction.

»War das auch das Ende?« wollten sie wissen, um sicherzugehen … »Ja, das war das Ende«, bestätigten wir ihnen. Ein Ende mit Schrecken, ein höchst fatales Ende. Und ein befreiendes Ende dennoch, – ich konnte und kann nicht umhin, es so zu empfinden!

[tr.: "Was that the end?" They wanted to know to make sure ... "Yes, that was the end," we confirmed. An end with horror, a most fatal end. And a liberating ending nevertheless, - I could and can not help feeling so!]

As for myself, I am still in shock that I have found a work by Thomas Mann that I could connect with, even if that connection is one of concerns for current events. I still don't enjoy Mann's writing style much, but in this instance his drawn out narrative and formal, seemingly dispassionate, choice of words, helped to build the tension of the story.

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

So yes, ever since I first read Thomas Mann's 1929 novella Mario und der Zauberer (Mario and the Magician) in a fourth year university course on 20th century German literature (in early December 1988), Mario und der Zauberer has definitely been one of my hands-down favourites from his, from Thomas Mann's pen, not only because of the presented contents and thematics but also and indeed very much strongly so since in Mario und der Zauberer Thomas Mann makes rare and appreciated use of a pretty well simple and uncomplicated (well, at least for him) and therefore also generally easy enough to rather effortlessly understand writing style (and which also, in my opinion, does make Mario und der Zauberer a wonderful general introduction to Thomas Mann's prose fiction for high intermediate and above German as a Second Language students who might well want to expand their literary horizons a bit but would more than still likely feel rather majorly daunted by Thomas Mann's novels and even by his more involved and heavily descriptive novellas such as for example Der Tod in Venedig and Tristan).

And with regard to the general plot line and story of Mario und der Zauberer (and of course in my humble opinion), the featured contents and themes are actually just like Thomas Mann's featured stylistics for Mario und der Zauberer for the most part and generally rather straight-forward and not too esoteric, as well as obviously also being quite overtly and openly political in scope and feel (and indeed, as such considerably more so than much of Mann's earlier prose usually tends to be). However, even though Mario und der Zauberer clearly takes place in 1920s Italy (and that there is a very distinct and palpable anti-foreigner atmosphere being portrayed), I also do not think and have actually never believed that Mario und der Zauberer is meant to be primarily an indictment of the rise of Italian Fascism and Benito Mussolini. For while there most certainly is (due to the distinctly Italian setting of Mario und der Zauberer) also an obviously Italian scope to the story, main antagonist and villain Cipolla himself is (at least to and for me) not only one of Thomas Mann's typically decadent and dangerously so general artist figures, but equally and also simply a standard and as such also universal dictator type figure, an individual who forces others to do what he is preaching, demanding and pushing (and with the climax of Cipolla being killed by Mario not only therefore being totally just desserts but also something Thomas Mann most certainly seems both in favour of, and yes, he is, or rather, the narrator acting as Mann's mouthpiece is, more than willing to understand and without much hesitation forgive).

A novella that is definitely a total personal favourite (and perhaps even my favourite Thomas Mann piece of shorter fiction, period), Mario und der Zauberer is most certainly much less philosophical and spiritual and much more specific time, place and contemprorary issues oriented, much more political than much of Mann's fiction, but is still and in my opinion imbued with a general universality that makes it, that renders Mario und der Zauberer and thankfully so, not just a mundane and repetitive roman à clef so to speak, but a novella that actually transcends Italian Fascism and is of both interest and significance regarding politics and dictators in general (and yes, also demonstrating what needs to happen to dictators, and no, I will absolutely not mince my words saying that Cipolla has most appreciatively and certainly deserved his fate, that Mario is a hero, that dictators need to be gotten rid of by any means possible and necessary).

[Carmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primeira coisa que salta à vista nos livros de Thomas Mann é a escrita: linguagem sofisticada e construção frásica elegante e irrepreensível.
Depois vamos conhecendo as personagens. Normalmente não são muitas; pertencem à burguesia e desfilam com pompa em ambientes requintados, que podem ser as suas moradias ou hoteis de luxo e estâncias de férias.
Fazem questão de exibir o estatuto social, sem serem desagradáveis mas marcando o seu lugar. E o dos outros.
Em Mário e o Mágico a receita repete-se com exito. Desde as primeiras páginas que se começa a perceber que existe uma hierarquia a seguir e há que obedecer às regras. Maior ou menor justiça não interessa; manda quem pode, obedece quem é subordinado.
Até aqui nada de muito grave. É quando conhecemos Cipolla - o mágico - que nos começamos a indignar perante a força que tem o pequeno ditador: a sua capacidade de rebaixar, espesinhar e manipular os outros, e daí retirar prazer é revoltante.
À medida que vamos assistindo ao desfilar de humilhações públicas, começa a germinar em nós um desejo de vingança e a esperar que uma qualquer justiça - divina ou humana - ponha fim à tortura.
E quando finalmente há uma vontade que derruba o hipnotisador, deixa um amargo de boca. Tivesse sido justiça divina, e só o culpado seria castigado. Mas a justiça dos homens, quando não obedece a preceitos sociais, embora possa punir o causador do mal, inflige ao justiceiro uma pena igualmente pesada que será inevitável, mas moralmente imerecida.

Foi um dos melhores livros que li de Thomas Mann. Em apenas 105 páginas conseguiu mostrar como o ser humano pode ser tratado desdenhosamente, o dificil que pode ser tomar uma atitude e, quando finalmente atinge o seu limite, o faz sem se importar com as consequências.

[Iloveplacebo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues bueno, no ha estado mal. No pasa mucho en la trama, pero tampoco me he aburrido.
Tengo la sensación de que quizás me he perdido algo, o que no lo he llegado a entender del todo.
Parece ser que es una crítica al fascismo italiano, aunque no me queda del todo claro.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mann, Thomas, Mário e o Mágico, 1930

Em “Mário e o Mágico”, Thomas Mann faz-nos refletir sobre o poder de sombrios líderes políticos que, pelo carisma e verborreia fácil, atraem e ludibriam as massas populares.
Ainda que a personalidade de Cipolla, o mágico desta novela, seja a todos os níveis repugnante, ainda que os atos que exige da sua audiência constituam uma violação feroz da honradez e da virtude, sendo executados contra a vontade de muitos e o espanto de todos, a verdade é que, pelo seu magnetismo, alcança a subjugação completa dos presentes, qual Flautista de Hamelin dos tempos modernos.
No final do espetáculo que encena para a comunidade e para os forasteiros de Torre di Venere, Cipolla é assassinado às mãos de Mário, jovem de origem humilde, que, profanado no seu mais íntimo ser, intenta esse gesto libertador, testemunhado nestes termos pelo narrador: “um fim horrível, um fim extremamente fatídico. E, no entanto, um fim libertador- não pude nem posso deixar de senti-lo desse modo!”
As recensões críticas desta obra vêem-na como uma parábola sobre a ascensão do fascismo em Itália e na Alemanha, nos anos que antecederam a segunda guerra mundial, e reconhecem Mussolini e Hitler na figura de Cipolla; algumas estabelecem, também, o paralelismo com o início deste nosso novo século que assiste, enfeitiçado e sem resposta, à crescente popularidade dos simpatizantes da extrema-direita; outras, mais recentes, sublinham as semelhanças entre Cipolla e o presidente americano, Donald Trump:

“Mas devo salientar que seria impossível falar-se no seu porte, na sua atitude, nos seus gestos, no seu comportamento, de jocosidade pessoal ou mesmo de palhaçada; nele era antes evidente uma rigorosa gravidade, uma rejeição a todo o tipo de piadas, um orgulho ocasionalmente mal humorado e ainda aquela espécie de dignidade e presunção do aleijado – o que não impediu que, a princípio, o seu comportamento provocasse o riso em vários pontos da sala.
Este comportamento não tinha nada de solicitude: a rapidez dos seus passos à entrada realçava apenas uma expressão de energia em que não havia o mínimo de subserviência. Em pé, no proscénio, desembaraçando-se das luvas com puxões indolentes, punha a descoberto as mãos compridas e amareladas ornadas por um anel-sinete com uma pedra saliente lacada, deambulava pela sala os seus olhinhos papudos, com ar perscrutador, sem pressa, detendo-se aqui e ali num rosto que examinava pensativamente – com a boca crispada e sem dizer uma palavra. “


“ Depois de ter tirado a cartola de seda, o cachecol e o casaco, voltou ao proscénio, ajeitando a casaca, puxando para fora os punhos da camisa apertados com grandes botões e pondo em ordem a sua faixa de impostor. O cabelo era pavoroso: a parte superior do crânio estava quase calva e apenas um exíguo penteado de risca atrás, empastado de brilhantina preta corria, como grudado, da catarucha da cabeça até à frente, enquanto o cabelo das fontes, também enegrecido , estava esticado até aos cantos dos olhos- o penteado talvez de um diretor de circo antiquado, ridículo, mas de qualquer forma adequado a um estilo de personalidade que dá nas vistas e usado com tanto aprumo que a sensibilidade pública se conteve e ficou muda perante a sua comicidade.”

[Ivva Tadiashvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

თომას მანი ნამდვილი ჯადოქარია. საოცარი მოთხრობა იყო.
ჩემს რევიუებში ხშირად ვახსენებ ჰიპნოზს, გავლენებს და შთაგონების ძალას. ხშირად ვცდილობ რომელიმე ავტორიტეტი დავაპატარავო. ამას იმიტომ ვაკეთებ რომ ვცდილობ ნაკლებად მოექცეთ ავტორის გავლენის ქვეშ.
არ ვიცი ეს რამდენად გამომდის შეიძლება უბრალოდ აბეზარი ვჩანვარ. იგივეს აკეთებს ჯადოქარი ჩიპოლაც და ბოლოს პასუხად ტყვისაც იღებს.
"თქვენი წინააღმდეგობა ვერ შეცვლის საბოლოო შედეგს. არსებობს თავისუფლება, არსებობს ნება, მაგრამ ნების თავისუფლება არ არსებობს, ვინაიდან თავისუფლებისკენ მიმართული ნება უეჭველად სიცარიელეში გადაიჩეხება. თქვენი ნებაა, დასტიდან ამოიღებთ თუ არა ბანქოს, მაგრამ როცა გადაწყვეტთ, უთუოდ ამოიღებთ იმას, რომელიც მე მჭირდება, და მით უფრო, რაც მეტად გაჯიუტდებით."
ამას ამბობს ჯადოქარი ჩიპოლა.
მართლაც ასეა არ არსებობს თავისუფალი ნება. ადამიანები მუდმივად ტრანსულ მდგომარეობაში არიან. ბუდა ასეთ ადამიანებს მძინარე ადამიანებს ეძახდა, იესო- მკვდრებს და კიდევ სხვები სხვა რამეებს.
ყველაფერი ტრანსია, ყველაფერი ჰიპნოზია. როცა ტელევიზორს ვუყურებთ, როცა ტელეფონს ვსქროლავთ, როცა მუსიკას ვუსმენთ, როცა წიგნს ვკითხულობთ, როცა ერთმანეთს ვუსმენთ. სენეკა ამბობდა "ყველა ვინც თავისკენ გიხმობს, შენს თავს გართმევს" ასეა.
არის ჩვენი აზრები ნამდვილად ჩვენი აზრები? არის ჩვენი სურვილები ჩვენი სურვილები? რა იწვევს ამა თუ იმ აზრს თუ სურვილს? ამაზე უნდა ვიფიქროთ ხშირად.
ჰიპნოზი ძალიან ადვილი რამეა, ჩვენ ყველა ერთმანეთს ვაჰიპნოზებთ. ჰიპნოზის ძირითადი წესია: რასაც ამბობს ჰიპნოზიური, იმაში ძალიან დარწმუნებული უნდა იყოს. მერე უკვე ადვილია.
მაგრამ სანამ რამეს იტყვის ჯერ ყურადღება უნდა მიიქციოს. ფილმებში ხომ გინახავთ ჯიბის საათს რომ აქანავებენ ან რამე. ჩიპოლას შემთხვევაში გონგი იყო ასეთი რამ წარმოდგენის დაწყების წინ, სცენა და დარბაზი კი უკვე იმისთვის იყო შემზადებული რომ ყურადღება ჩიპოლასკენ ყოფილიყო.
ჰიპნოზი ადვილია მაგრამ უფრო მეტად ადვილია როცა ვისაც უკეთებ ჰიპნოზს ის მთელი ძალით ცდილობს შეგეწინააღმეგოს. ამიტომ ჩიპოლა თავიდანვე აჩენს მაყურებელში წინააღმდეგობას რაც საქმეს ბევრად უადვილებს.
წარმოიდგინეთ თუ ასეთი ადვილია ჰიპნოზი, როგორ შეუძლიათ მედიას, პოლიტიკოსებს და ძალაუფლებაში მყოფ ადამიანებს გამოიყენონ ეს ძალა ჩვენს სამართავად, ჩვენი სურვილების და აზრების დასაპროგრამებლად.
ჰიპნოზისგან თავის დაღწევის ერთადერთი გზა არის რომ არ მოუსმინო. ჩიპოლა რომ გთხოვს კარტი ამოიღო შენ შეგიძლია ფეხსაცმელები გაიხადო თავ��ე დაილაგო და ფანჯრის მეშვეობით გახვიდე ოთახიდან. ეს იქნება ხერხი რომ ჰიპნოზს თავი აარიდო.
მე ძენ ბუდიზმი დამეხმარა ამ ყველაფერში გამორკვევაში, მაგრამ არა მარტო ძენ ბუდიზმი, ყველა ამას ცდილობს, ამ გავლენებისგან გაგვანთავისუფლოს, ეს იქნება ბუდა, იესო, ნიცშე, შოპენჰაუერი თუ თომას მანი. მაგრამ ყოველთვის იქნებიან ისეთი ადამიანები ვინც ამას ცუდად გამოიყენებენ.
ვერ ავცდებით ჰიპნოზს. ჩვენ შეგვიძლია უბრალოდ ავირჩიოთ ვისი ჰიპნოზის ქვეშ მოვექცევით.
მე პოეზიას და ფილოსოფიას ვარჩევ. მაგრამ ვცდილობ ის რაც მოვისმინე ან წავიკითხე არც დავადასტურო არც უარვყო. ეს ძენ ბუდიზმია.
არ ვიცი ეს წელი ესეთი ჩელენჯი მაქვს რომ ყველა წიგნზე რამე უეჭველი უნდა ვიბაზრო გუდრიდსზე. შეიძლება მართლა აბეზარი გავხდი, მაგრამ ეს მხოლოდ გუდრიდსზე. <3

[Rafailia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ich habe noch nie so ein schlechtes Buch in meinem Leben gelesen.
Ihr fragt euch jetzt sicherlich wer ich bin und woher ich mir das Recht nehme so über dieses Buch zu schreiben.
Also erstmal zu mir, ich bin Schülerin und wurde gezwungen dieses Buch für die Schule zu lesen.
Ich habe Deutsch Leistungskurs und habe dementsprechend mehrere Lektüren und Bücher in meiner Vergangenheit gelesen, natürlich auch in niedrigeren Klassen. Viele fand ich blöd, einige waren recht interessant und aufschlussreich.
Allerdings habe ich noch nie so ein schlechtes Buch gelesen. Es ist nicht nur unglaublich langweilig, sondern auch sinnlos und dämlich. Thomas Mann wollte mit dieser Novelle den wachsenden Faschismus zum Ausdruck bringen, was auch völlig legitim ist. Allerdings stört mich seine Umsetzung zutiefst. Den wachsenden Faschismus hätte er anders, anschaulicher und spannender verdeutlichen können.
100 Seiten über seine Reise nach Italien im Jahr 1926 zu lesen war eine reinste Tortur. Mich interessiert es nicht, wie heiß die Sonne in Italien ist oder wie der Zauberer im Detail aussieht und welche Farbe seine Unterhose hat, Herrgott nochmal. Das ist alles derart unpassend und dämlich umgesetzt worden.
Und dafür dann noch einen Preis zu erhalten ist ja wohl der größte Witz.
Den einzigen Preis, den Thomas Mann für dieses Buch hätte kriegen müssen, wäre einen für die Fähigkeit Menschen unendlich zu langweilen und eine Urlaubsreise auf 100 Seiten festzuhalten.
Für mich ist dieses Buch ein absoluter Reinfall, nicht empfehlenswert und auf gar keinen Fall geeignet als Schullektüre, außer man möchte die Schüler dazu motivieren die Schule abzubrechen, nur um dieses Buch nicht weiter lesen und analysieren zu müssen.

[Bookfreak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Από δύο νουβέλες αποτελείται αυτή η πολύ όμορφη έκδοση από τις εκδόσεις Ερατώ (όπως όλες δλδ) και τολμώ να πω ότι αν και στη πρώτη (ο Μάριο και ο μάγος) ο Μαν ξεδιπλώνει το συγγραφικό του μεγαλείο με το πυκνό και δουλεμένο στη λεπτομέρεια ύφος του, η δεύτερη (ο μικρός κύριος Φρήντεμαν) είναι μια συγκλονιστική αποτύπωση της ψυχολογικής πορείας ενός "διαφορετικού" όταν προσπαθεί να αγγίξει το ανέφικτο. Καφκική αντιστροφή του πρίγκηπα βάτραχου.

[Anni K. Mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das war...seltsam.
Ich werde dazu noch ein paar Sachen lesen.

[Luciana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publicado em 1930, quando o fascismo europeu estava em ascensão, Mário e o Mágico é o retrato da percepção de Mann ao visitar um balneário italiano onde pressentiu o clima de apreensão, de ódio e de nacionalismo exacerbado que havia começado a gestar no país.
Embora acreditasse ser improvável que aquilo pudesse vingar em seu país, apenas três anos mais tarde após a publicação da novela, a Alemanha se dobrou ao nacional-socialismo e se deixou encantar por aquele, tal qual o antagonista, é apenas um homem comum, sem atrativos, sem talento e inapto que acabou por levar uma Nação ressentida com a derrota na guerra, as condições do Tratado de Versalhes e com sede de vingança a "escandir Heil em uníssono e levantar o braço direito, em admirável sincronia, para a saudação nazista”.

Narrando, pois, com toques autobiográficos a viagem de uma família à Itália e seu encontro com um espetáculo de um mágico ilusionista, desde o primeiro momento é exposto ao leitor a presença de um ambiente hostil, de preservação da moral conservadora e de punição à liberdade quando um ato inocente ocorre na praia italiana, apresentando, de forma concreta, aquilo ao qual Mussolini já havia iniciado em seu domínio.

Passando, pois, para o espetáculo principal que compõe a maior parte da narrativa, o mágico Cipolla é nada menos que um ser degradante que comanda uma hipnose coletiva colocando o público/massa sob seu domínio. Ao invés do ‘Heil’, o ‘Balla’ pronunciado ao som do chicote do mágico Cipolla traduz o que fizeram os maiores líderes fascistas, ao se apoderar "misteriosamente da alma de um povo com gloriosas tradições de cultura, conseguindo levá-lo sob hipnose a ações profundamente contrárias à sua índole e tradição”, em um espetáculo grotesco que tem como fim uma ação perturbadora que poderia ser entendida como um prenúncio para os líderes fascistas da época; que embora tiveram violentas mortes, suas táticas de manipulações sobreviveram para assombrar às democracias e estão prontas para fazer a todos dançar sob o ritmo do chicote dos novos mágicos, se não forem combatidas.

De tal modo que tive uma excelente leitura; o posfácio é brilhante e ponto essencial para compreensão da obra. No mais, Doutor Fausto conta o que Mann iniciou aqui: acerca do pacto de sangue que a Alemanha assinou com o diabo.

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μαγεμένη άλλη μια φορά!!!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

das buch war nicht schlecht, aber auch wirklich nicht gut

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Mann wrote "Mario and the Magician" in 1929, under the rising spectre of fascism in Europe. Stalin had just seized power in Russia, Mussolini was urging Italians to recapture the glory of the Roman Empire, and Hitler with his rhetoric was quickly gaining momentum to 'make Germany great again.' Set in a seaside resort in Italy, the story is a damning indictment of the Enlightenment theories of rationality and the values of democracy, and suggests human beings do not in fact want to be liberated but want to be enslaved. "There is the will but there is no freedom of the will."

Near the shores of a small Italian town, rumors spread and announcements appear of a traveling magician, an illusionist named Cipolla. The audience begins to gather from the surrounding countryside, but before the performance, he makes you wait, like a rock star warming up the audience. "Cipolla gives rise to the illusion that he has come a long way to be at your service; he feels your pain. Whereas of course he has only been standing in the wings. A man of an age hard to determine...dressed for the street with a sort of complicated evening elegance....He had a white scarf round his neck; a top hat with a curving brim sat far back on his head. Perhaps more than anywhere else the eighteenth century is still alive in Italy, and with it the charlatan and mountebank type so characteristic of the period."

Cipolla makes a joke, he makes his first example of his power on a member of the crowd. He speaks very well, his ability is in oratory and speaking rhetorically. Rhetoric is by definition demagogic (Mein Kampf is formulated as a response to rhetorical questions)—and in the absence of deliberation—demagoguery and Cipolla's ability to speak overpowers the crowd. He dictates.

Cipolla demonstrates his powers of mesmerism on the crowd, his ability to control their actions, to command their emotions and desires. "He went ahead to eliminate the gap between the stage and the audience." Cipolla breaks the border between the person representing a position and the people viewing it, "the priest is no longer up on the altar but goes among us," staying with the mass of the audience. He always has the audience on his side, but he is not democratic. He claims to speak for the masses, and he uses wonderful phrases, but they're vague and they have no meaning, no content: they are pure ideology, the pure lie. It's empty, but it's unbelievably powerful.

Escalating levels of humiliation, of taking away people's freedoms. In the next-to-last humiliation, Cipolla induces a married couple to replace the object of their love for each other with himself. He has already debunked rationality (the ego) and can now direct the emotional, the id. In the final act he demonstrates his ability to bring the energy of the crowd, Eros and the deepest urges of the individual under his control, redirecting what you would choose, onto himself.

**

Fascism toppled democracies across Europe quickly and easily at the beginning of the 20th century, and history has proven that totalitarianism can emerge from the right or the left. Mann takes a psychological view of totalitarianism, seeking to understand why, on some level, individuals enjoy relinquishing the pressure of self-responsibility; the connection between willing and doing. The Enlightenment models of government are based on the rationalist model of the mind: personal freedom is predicated on the ability to take responsibility for your actions. 'I did it because I meant to do it and I'll take responsibility for it,' is the level of maturity that is necessary to justify the individual mandate. Authoritarianism, cults, causes, have remained perversely, bizarrely fascinating because human beings have a tendency to feel alienated and strained by the burden of total self-determination, accompanied as it is by feelings of guilt, recrimination, and anxiety that are the inevitable consequence of being responsible for one's own actions.

To give oneself over to a cause, to the will of another, and to momentarily overcome the responsibility of the ego is not included in the Enlightenment model of the mind that informs our concepts of justice, democracy, freedom of the will, and rationality. Ignoring this basic tendency of human psychology is incredibly dangerous, and if left unchecked it will eventually seek expression in violence. The story has an ending that will make you read it again from the beginning.

https://figurationoftheinvisible.tumb...

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 4 out of 5]

1929 Nobel Edebiyat Ödüllü Alman yazar Thomas Mann'ın toplu öykülerinin ikinci cildi olan Mario ile Sihirbaz'ı, ilk cilt olan Zor Saat'e kıyasla daha çok sevdim, özellikle derlemeye ismini de veren Mario ile Sihirbaz'ın çok iyi bir metin olduğunu söylemek isterim.

Mann'ın geç dönem öykülerini içeren derleme, 1919-1943 arasında yazdığı öykülerden oluşuyor. İlk ciltteki öykülerinden pek çok açıdan farklı bu metinler. Erken dönem öykülerinde, bazı romanlarında da (Venedik'te Ölüm ve Tonio Kröger ilk aklıma gelenler) akıl yürüttüğü sanat ve sanatçı sorunsalına odaklanırken, burada insanın nüvesine dair yazıyor ki ben bu biçimde yazdığı metinleri çok daha ilginç buluyorum. Mann müthiş bir gözlemci ve insanın örtülü, karanlık yanlarını bulup çıkarmayı çok iyi becerdiği muhakkak.

Kitaba adını veren Mario ile Sihirbaz'a bu çerçevede özellikle değinmek isterim. Tuhaf, grotesk bir metin bu. Bir tatil kasabasına gelen bir hipnozcuyu anlatıyor. Sürükleyici, kendini merakla okutan bu metnin 1930'da yazıldığını göz önüne alınca hikaye bambaşka bir boyut kazanıyor. Bu tuhaf adamın kendisini izlemeye gelen kitleye istediği her şeyi yaptırabilmesi, onların üzerinde kurmayı başardığı iktidar ve kitlenin koşulsuz teslimiyetinin bir Nazizm eleştirisi olduğunu anlamak güç değil, nitekim öykü yayınlandıktan sadece 3 sene sonra ülkesini terk edecekti yazar.

Yine aynı şekilde, 1943 tarihli Kanun öyküsü, kutsal kitaplarda anlatılan İsrailoğullarının öyküsünün Mann'ca yorumlanmış versiyonunu içeriyor. Yahudi soykırımının gelmekte olduğunu çoktan görmüş olan yazarın, bu tarihte bu metni yazmış olması da şüphesiz bir tür direnme ve ses verme çabasıydı.

Mann'ın şahane gözlemlerini, ironik üslubunu, yer yer epeyce modernist bir biçime bürünen dilini ve derinlikli kurgularını özlemişim. Bu külliyat bitecek ama bakalım ne zaman? Bir yanım da bitmesin istediği için, halimden memnunum aslında. :)

[Cathérine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐

[emmöbe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated it ommggg 🤢

[Maren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nachträglich eingepflegt.
Vor 12 Jahren gelesen.

[Paloma orejuda (Pevima) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pues... No me ha gustado. No es un cero rotundo, pero ha podido conmigo.

**Alerta Spoiler!!

La pluma me ha resultado insufrible (pedante para mi gusto) y aunque es muy corto, se me ha hecho eterno. Me daba sueño!!
Se supone que es una crítica del fascismo o algo así... pero yo no me he enterado. Las partes de la tos ferina y del desnudo en la playa, me han parecido de mojigatos perdidos (que supongo era su intención), pero la parte del mago... esa directamente ha sido insoportable.

Lo mejor, la última página!

En fin, 1 estrellas sobre 5 porque, aunque sea injusto darle solo esa, no me ha gustado.

**Popsugar 2022 categoría 24. Un libro que puedes leer de una vez, de un tirón.

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Mario and the Magician as part of a virtual reading initiative. We read as a group,
" an interactive reading experience and a space for transatlantic conversation in times of social distancing and quarantine."
There is something to be said for reading only a few pages a day to stretch this read over 5 days. It was fabulous! We had daily contributions from Thomas Mann scholars which enhanced our reading experience!!

A must read! A timely read!

Check out:

Welcome To #MutuallyMann – A virtual reading initiative
https://mutuallymann.vatmh.org/

[sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is what happens when you are scared of being gay

[Blazz J · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5. Literarna zgodovina bo ugotavljala, zakaj so se (slovenska) uredništva v preteklosti toliko ogibala izdati Mannovo novelo. V njej lahko uvidimo vzpon fašistične ideologije v nekem obmorskem italijanskem mestu ali morda bolje nedvoumno ter nekritično akomodacijo tamkajšnjega prebivalstva. Performansu prostaškega čarovnika Cipolle, katerega se udeleži avtorjeva družina nekega dopustniškega večera, se prične z ogorčenostjo, osuplostjo, ki se prelevi v čudno onkraj zavestno in skrivnostno očaranostjo.

[Miss Sunshine girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hangoskönyvben hallgattam. Nagy várakozásokkal kezdtem bele, jókat hallottam róla és Mácsai Pállal nem is volt gond, sokszor, mintha nem is ő szólalt volna meg, kiváló előadó. Na, de a történet! Én nem is értem, mi szükség volt az első felére, semmit nem tett a történethez, roppant unalmas is volt, vártam, mikor jön végre a varázsló és Mario, azt hittem, sose. Nem volt egyébként rosszul megírva, de már Poe-nál se bírtam ezt a hosszas előkészületet, hogy aztán a történet utolsó harmada legyen a lényeg. Tudom, hogy egy időben ez divat volt, meg akkoriban biztos nagyon misztikus volt és izgalmas, de nekem inkább csak idegőrlő. A varázsló se volt nagy szám, Máriot viszont abszolút megértettem, én se nagyon örülnék, ha ekkora hülyét csinálnának belőlem nagyközönség előtt. Írták mások, hogy Hitler ellenes írásmű, én csak vmi nagyon távoli megközelítésben véltem ezt felfedezni, a hipnotikus erőben talán, Hitler beszédei tudtak szuggesztióval bírni és talán rávett embereket olyanra, amilyeneket amúgy nem tettek volna meg, de azért nekem ez nagyon erős belemagyarázásnak tűnik. Nem is volt rendesen kifejtve a dolog, ha az első rész helyett inkább több szólt volna az eseményről, jobb lett volna.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

0 Sterne wären angebrachter.

[Bob Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

In deze uitgave - het is me niet duidelijk of de tekst een vertaling of adaptie is - wordt de novelle Mario en de Magiër van Thomas Mann voorzien van prachtige illustraties van de hand van Koenraad Tinel. Ze dragen bij tot de beklemmende sfeer die het verhaal al op zich oproept. Een Oostenrijkse familie is op vakantie in een mediterrane badplaats, in het Italië van Il Duce. Een eigenaardig en haast vijandig sfeertje heerst in het stadje en zorgt voor een soort onbestemd onbehagen bij de jonge familie. Het komt uiteindelijk tot een uitbarsting tijdens het optreden van de mysterieuze ‘goochelaar’ Cipolla.

De tekst - verteld vanuit het oogpunt van de vader van het Oostenrijkse gezin - slaagt erin steeds de aandacht van de lezer te trekken en ervoor te zorgen dat je blijft verder lezen omwille van een soort onuitgesproken en onduidelijke spanning. Je blijft als lezer op het puntje van je stoel zitten. De prachtige illustraties van Tinel versterken het geheel immens en zijn echt verbluffend. Dit is duidelijk een voorbeeld van een tekst die verrijkt wordt door beeld.

[Raheleh · Rating 2 out of 5]

دو داستان به فاصله ی ۲۶ سال نوشته شدند.مضمون هر دو داستان رابطه ی توده و قدرت هست. داستان ها نمادین هستند. در واقع تو این داستان ها قدرت اون چیزی هست که مردم رو مسحور و مجذوب خودش میکنه و اراده و اختیار توده رو سلب میکنه و انگار که این تبعیت از قدرت بین توده مسری هست و قدرت تفکر از توده گرفته میشه. توماس مان رو آلمانی ها نویسنده ی ملی میدونند، کسی بود که با هیتلر و نازی ها هم مشکل داشت و در واقع تو آثارش قبل از به قدرت رسیدن نازی ها، هشدار داده بود و بهش پرداخته بود. ترجمه خوب بود ولی بعضی قسمت ها رو مجبور میشدم که دو بار بخونم انگار یکم سخت ترجمه شده بود شاید میشد یکم راحت تر ترجمه کرد. تو داستان دوم یک سری عبارت های ایتالیایی هست که ترجمه شون اگر تو پاورقی پایین صفحه میومد بهتر بود. یک سری توضیحات بدون شماره گذاری بصورت پی نوشت در انتهای کتاب ضمیمه شده که بهتر بود یا بصورت پاورقی بیاد یا شماره گذاری بشه‌. امتیاز من به این کتاب ۲/۵ هست.