Buddenbrooks - Part 1

[Silver]

Part I

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

[Everyman]

I'm having trouble sorting out the family tree. Worse than War and Peace.

[Silver]

Yes, I am having the same difficulty. I am glad I am not the only one. I was struggling to keep track of who was who and how they where related.

[Silver]

In some ways this book reminds me of The Forsyte Saga. There is a similar sort of sartorial humor within both books as well if I recall The Forsyte Saga also opened with a dinner party with a gathering of all the family.

We also see the conflict between ideas and philosophical and political points of view between the different generations.

I particularly enjoyed the conversation between the elder Budeenbrooks and his son the consul (I cannot recall, has he ever been addressed by his name? It seems as if they just call him the consul) regarding the state of the garden and seeing their differing views regarding nature.

The elder Buddenbrooks reminded me of discussions we have had when I was still in school about the 19th century views about nature and how creating these elaborate and very orderly and organized gardens became so popular.

Nature wasn't the big scary wild unknown as it formerly was, but it has been conquered and man wanted to exert his control over nature by taming it and putting it to order and it is was a way to bring nature to admire, while still keeping the wild, and primitive out.

The older Buddenrbooks is offended by the way the garden has gotten out of his control and become overgrown and is returning to its truer natural state, and so he wants to exert his mastery over it and reclaim it, but the son enjoys that feeling of the primitive and the wild he gets from the overgrown garden.

[Madge UK]

Yes, estate gardens in the 18C went from being perfectly symmetrical and topiarised, as at Versailles, to the return to nature engineered by Capability Brown who moved hills, made flowing lakes and serpentine rivers to create 'natural' vistas. It could also be seen as an allegory for a change from belief in an autocratic and religious world to an Enlightened, more liberal one. Or as an allegory of The Fall in the Garden of Eden.

[Silver]

MadgeUK wrote: "Yes, estate gardens in the 18C went from being perfectly symmetrical and topiarised, as at Versailles, to the return to nature engineered by Capability Brown who moved hills, made flowing lakes an..."

That is quite interesting

[Will]

Getting a late start but enjoying so far. Considering the subtitle of the book 'Decline of a Family' I think there is a little irony at play here with the Buddenbrooks buying a nice home which the former owner was forced to sell due to insolvency. During the meal there are also some toasts to the family and continued prosperity. Is the opening scene meant to be the peak of things for the Buddenbrooks?

[Silver]

Will wrote: "Getting a late start but enjoying so far. Considering the subtitle of the book 'Decline of a Family' I think there is a little irony at play here with the Buddenbrooks buying a nice home which the..."

That is an interesting question. I wonder if it is a peak for them, or is them existing in a state of denial and not yet willing to admit, or seeing that all is not truly going well. I do rather like the irony of that opening though.

We do see hints of trouble on the horizon in the opening with the letter that arrives regarding the dispute over the house between elder Buddebrooks and Gotthold.

[Everyman]

I'm late to the party, though the party is going to go long past midnight so I've got plenty of time to enjoy it. [g]

If it weren't for the sub-title, would people still think this was showing the family at its peak? I didn't notice the sub-title, and that idea didn't strike me at all. I saw Gotthold as a typical black sheep of that era, providing some contrast to the otherwise congenial family and the prospect of some conflict, which is the crux of fiction.

But overall, I saw this first part primarily as a fairly common way to introduce the characters, particularly the family and their intimate friends, before the action of the story gets underway.

[Silver]

Everyman wrote: "I'm late to the party, though the party is going to go long past midnight so I've got plenty of time to enjoy it. [g]

If it weren't for the sub-title, would people still think this was showing th..."

I do think that the sub-title and the awareness of it does influence the way one perceives the events wuthin the story.

[Bonnie]

Silver wrote: "In some ways this book reminds me of The Forsyte Saga. There is a similar sort of sartorial humor within both books as well if I recall The Forsyte Saga also opened with a dinner party..."

I am reminded of "The Forsyte Saga" too. Also The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1918/1919. I want to say it also had a party to introduce characters, but I looked it up and the ball I remembered, though it does introduce several people, isn't until chapter 3 or 4.

I wouldn't have thought a decline was imminent-- if father and son started the company a few years ago they haven't been on top of the world for too long (not like elder Mr. B's grandfather started it and both his grandfather and father were pillars of the city, say)... But the letter from the other brother definitely feels like Danger in Paradise. From his letter He seems unhinged.

I read somewhere that descriptions of people's teeth foretell their destiny (in this book, I mean!). Thomas's teeth are small and yellow.

[Bonnie]

Everyman wrote: "I'm late to the party, though the party is going to go long past midnight so I've got plenty of time to enjoy it. [g]"

Really enjoying this book, sorry I didn't get to it at the time y'all were reading it together. Oh well the party keeps going past midnight, as Everyman said.
Thanks for picking it! I always have wanted to read the author's Death in Venice because it's such an awesome title, the book covers feature Carnival masks, and it seems (in my mind and based on little to no facts) like a bigger and better Wings of the Dove.