* Week 1 -- August 12 - 18. Read from Chapter 1, "Arrival" (Ankunft) p.3, until Chapter 3 "One Word too Many" p.81

[Elena]

Some google wisdom for what it's worth:" The character was a parody of the philosopher George Lukács, who "plainly has not recognized himself in Naphta", wrote Mann in a 1949 letter.
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Lukács always denied any similarity between Naphtha...

[Mark]

James wrote: "I agree with you and your analysis Mark, I don't think HC is an overachiever. He's just gone with the flow throughout his life and frankly doesn't strike me as overly bright.

As to Naphta, I don't..."

I use "like" in the sense that I find the characters richly drawn, and portrayed with depth. I am guilty of sloppy language here - maybe I should have said that I like how the characters are drawn. In fact, I am not sure I like any of them very much, and now I am using the word in its conventional sense. Certainly HC, the key character, does not strike me as somebody whose company I would seek necessarily.

As an aside, I loved the scence where HC and his nephew encounter Naphta for the first time, and sit in his room witnessing the discussion between N. and S. This conversation is portrayed as if HC and nephew are in the audience of a tennis match - their heads would turn to whoever is speaking at the moment, and turn to the other one in expectation of a response. Just one more example of the countless ways in which Thomas Mann delivers a subtle satirical take.

[Mark]

Elizabeth wrote: "Somewhere--?--Hans remarks that he: only feels completely well when he is doing nothing."

Yes - again, I think that was quite early on in the novel. I just got to a bit where he is told that he's healed and free to travel. He is completely shocked by this news and convinces himself that he would need to stay on...

[Mark]

Finished! Phew.

To those who are interested, I left a review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...