Im Schlaraffenland

by Heinrich Mann

Book by MANN

Genres: German Literature, Classics, Fiction

475 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

A German novelist who wrote works with social themes whose attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of post-Weimar German society led to his exile in 1933.

Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann and Júlia da Silva Bruhns. He was the elder brother of Thomas Mann. His father came from a patrician grain merchant family and was a Senator of the Hanseatic city. After the death of his father, his mother moved the family to Munich, where Heinrich began his career as a freier Schriftsteller or free novelist.

Reviews

[Maxi Ewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In heutigen Zeiten würde man Andreas Zumsee wohl bescheinigen, dass er das Fake-it-Till-you-make-it gut beherrscht und wohl auch in den sozialen Medien relativ erfolgreich wäre. Denn es dreht sich alles darum bei allen gut anzukommen. Was am Anfang super spannend und einen schönen Perspektivwechsel anbietet, zieht sich jedoch nach einer gewissen Zeit. Die Kritik an den Reichen und Schönen ist anfangs noch gut verpackt, wird späterhin jedoch reichlich dick aufgetragen.

[Mosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is true that the models for this novel - namely Maupassant's "Bel-Ami" and Balzac's "Lost Illusions" - shine through clearly, perhaps all too clearly. And there can be no doubt that Heinrich Mann cannot quite hold a candle to these two novels with "Im Schlaraffenland"; nevertheless, in my opinion, this book offers an enjoyable read, and in its course it develops enough originality not to have to hide from the models: What to Balzac was the material for an economic thriller of sometimes tragic force, and what to Maupassant was still worthy of at least a comedy, Heinrich Mann has finally degraded to farce - the "becoming a commodity" (Lukács) of the intellect in capitalism.

* * *

Es stimmt, dass die Vorbilder zu diesem Roman - namentlich Maupassants "Bel-Ami" und Balzacs "Verlorene Illusionen" - deutlich, vielleicht allzu deutlich durchscheinen. Und es kann kein Zweifel daran bestehen, dass Heinrich Mann den Vorbildern mit "Im Schlaraffenland" nicht ganz das Wasser reichen kann; dennoch bietet dies Buch in meinen Augen eine vergnügliche Lektüre und es verfügt in seinem Verlauf über genügend Eigenständigkeit, um sich vor den Vorbildern nicht verstecken zu müssen: was Balzac zum Stoff für einen Wirtschaftsthriller von bisweilen doch auch tragischer Wucht wurde und Maupassant immerhin noch eine Komödie wert war, das ist bei Heinrich Mann endgültig zur Farce herabgesunken - das "Zur-Ware-Werden" (Lukács) des Geistes im Kapitalismus.

[Luka · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved this in the beginning but it started losing me around the halfway point. i was hoping to find a new favourite character in andreas; i was seeing my favourite character type in him in the beginning: arrogant, manipulative, self-obsessed and absolutely delusional (think richard from Donna Tart's The Secret History or maybe even nicholas in Christopher Coe's I Look Divine ). in a sense andreas did encompass that, just not to the heightened degree that i enjoy which made his plot a lot less fun to follow. ik this is satire and it doesn't necessarily have to be fun BUT i'm just so spoiled from heinrich mann's other works like Die kleine Stadt which does manage to be funny and critical at the same time. to me. humour is subjective and i'm rating things based on my enjoyment. the plot was fine and i usually love rich people drama but this draaaaagged girl. could've been like 50-100 pages shorter or maybe used a murder or at least some sort of confrontation. maybe a change of perspective. something!

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corruption and the worship of money in Wilhelmine Germany. Pretty much the same as anywhere else. It got rather tedious after the first couple hundred pages, and there were still more than 200 to go. Had this novel been by an author who was not a Mann brother, I probably wouldn't have bothered to finish it.

[Tocotin · Rating 4 out of 5]

No, I'm not reading it in German, but the Polish edition isn't here. I'm going to add it later. Also, this is a rereading – it's one of my favorite books ever.

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All right, this didn't age well – the sexism is just overwhelming – but it is a fun read. The author clearly has too much sympathy for his loathsome little asshole of a hero, though. My fav characters are Adelaide and Little Matzke; I hope the latter will drown the hero in a shallow gutter, that's all he deserves. But he probably would join the NSDAP or something.

I gave it 5 stars before rereading, because I'm so sentimental, but I just loathe Andreas too much.