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Das letzte Jahr: Bericht über meinen Vater
German
95 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
About the author
Erika Mann
30 books21 followersErika Julia Hedwig Mann was a German actress and writer, the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and his wife Katia.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2026
an odd but okay book
February 8, 2023
The gradual declension of the body unto its final days has always intrigued me; how a person can be alive and active one week, and a few weeks later, claimed by a natural death.
In great detail and retrospective spirit, Erika retells the last year in Thomas Mann's amazing life; filled with bittersweet comings and goings, the last vacation with the Hesse's, his last "swan song" at the Schiller festival, his 80th birthday, and that last poetic moment of normalcy, him sitting at the beach at Noordwijk, writing an introduction for a book "while kids played nearby, building sand castles..."; it was, as his daughter observed, the last time he was able to enjoy the breeze, the sand and the surf like he used to when he himself was a child, and indeed, life gave this man of great creative powers and moral fortitude in an era that sorely needed it, the opportunity to be that child again one last time, he who wrote masterworks that are themselves, in a way, mere sand castles in the shores of Eternity.
Right after he was finished, coming from the beach, content and happy, his final leg pain appeared, and from that moment onwards, it'd be a straight route to his final rest, without reprieves or recoveries, but peacefully. Such was his life. "Grace walked with him, and took him" Erika Mann says, and I find beauty and comfort at the thought.
Of the many men and women of letters whom I admire and feel a kinship for, Thomas Mann has always had a special place in my heart, and am grateful that this book, which I didn't know existed, jumped into my life from a shelf, for it has told me many things that I needed to know and ponder.
In great detail and retrospective spirit, Erika retells the last year in Thomas Mann's amazing life; filled with bittersweet comings and goings, the last vacation with the Hesse's, his last "swan song" at the Schiller festival, his 80th birthday, and that last poetic moment of normalcy, him sitting at the beach at Noordwijk, writing an introduction for a book "while kids played nearby, building sand castles..."; it was, as his daughter observed, the last time he was able to enjoy the breeze, the sand and the surf like he used to when he himself was a child, and indeed, life gave this man of great creative powers and moral fortitude in an era that sorely needed it, the opportunity to be that child again one last time, he who wrote masterworks that are themselves, in a way, mere sand castles in the shores of Eternity.
Right after he was finished, coming from the beach, content and happy, his final leg pain appeared, and from that moment onwards, it'd be a straight route to his final rest, without reprieves or recoveries, but peacefully. Such was his life. "Grace walked with him, and took him" Erika Mann says, and I find beauty and comfort at the thought.
Of the many men and women of letters whom I admire and feel a kinship for, Thomas Mann has always had a special place in my heart, and am grateful that this book, which I didn't know existed, jumped into my life from a shelf, for it has told me many things that I needed to know and ponder.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews