Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
This topic is about
The Magic Mountain
New School Classics- 1915-2005
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The Magic Mountain -- Spoilers July 2022 Long Read (previously a Buddy Read)
just for the record, I did actually finish on 28th Nov.review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nearly two years later, a couple of us are considering a BR of MAGIC MOUNTAIN. What's the procedure: tack onto this thread, or found a new one??
Mod
Continue on with this thread please!
Would someone like to propose a schedule? I propose reading it in English, of course (I have the John E. Woods translation, currently the newest major translation, and best-selling), but have DER ZAUBERBERG on hand in case of difficulties with nuance. To draw on a musical analogy, if BUDDENBROOKS (1901) was a "late Romantic" family saga, then MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1924) is Modernist. It isn't ULYSSES, but it isn't terribly easy either. The main "gimmick," to use a term loosely, is that Mann would like to seduce the reader into identifying with and admiring the central figure, Hans Castorp, though that would be a mistake.
I suggest a slow-ish schedule so newcomers don't feel left behind i the dust, but I leave it to others to propose such a sked.
I would love to join this read. I did some digging and found a schedule from another group that goes for 12 weeks. Is that too long? too short? I don't have the book in front of me so it's hard for me to tell.Chapters I to III: Two weeks
Chapters IV: Two weeks
Chapters V: Two weeks
Chapters VI: Three weeks
Chapters VII: Three weeks
TOTAL: 12 weeks
I think anyone who is seriously interested in discussing MAGIC MOUNTAIN should have the book in hand before the discussion commences. I say that because I've been involved, if only peripherally, with so many good books that people THOUGHT would be immediately available, but weren't. And then, two weeks and fifty pages into the discussion, the slo-poke book arrives in the mail and folks don't have the time to catch up. I got my copy (Woods translation) through Thrftbooks, and it took the usual week and a half. I'm sure Amazon Prime members can get it more quickly, but not everyone belongs to Prime and not everyone wants to pay new-book prices.
Suppose several people buy the book -- again, I recommend the Woods translation -- it's easiest to find and a good translation. I don't think people are liable to invest in a book and find that a discussion doesn't materialize, as buddy reads are always possible.
Again, MAGIC MOUNTAIN is a long serious book, rich in modernist
The Magic Mountain
I like that schedule. I'd join in if we took that kind of time.
But, Kristen, I do think that's a good skeletal schedule you proposed. I would like more people "on the same page" (ahem) before we kick off. That's me -- there may be other folks who want to approach the book a little more casually.
Sounds good to me. I have Prime so I'll have the book Saturday, I believe.
I haven't been a member here very long: Who wants to declare MAGIC MOUNTAIN open for discussion as of Monday, September 10? Does that leave us enough time to discuss background,and of course buy/read the book?I should add that a 12-week schedule, which I think is a good idea, does put us into the first week of December assuming there are no major breaks. It would be best to conclude well before Christmas, I think.
Also it should be said: avoid the H.T. Lowe-Porter translation of The Magic Mountain if at all possible.It was dated and unsatisfactory even when Mann was still alive, and it hasn't improved with age. The John E. Woods translation is rightly considered the definitive one.
I'll add your buddy read to the schedule list for Sep - Dec. Feel free to canvas for more people in the buddy read requests thread.
ALLEN wrote: "I haven't been a member here very long: Who wants to declare MAGIC MOUNTAIN open for discussion as of Monday, September 10? Does that leave us enough time to discuss background,and of course buy/re..."Kristen wrote: "I would love to join this read. I did some digging and found a schedule from another group that goes for 12 weeks. Is that too long? too short? I don't have the book in front of me so it's hard for..."
I have my copy and the proposed schedule works out well for me, so I'm good to go.
As am I. I’m going to start reading this evening!
Count me in. I tried to read it once before, and did not finish.
Christopher wrote: "Count me in. I tried to read it once before, and did not finish."I wasn't able to finish it the first time I tried to read it, either.
But when I tried again, years later, I can't even describe the effect it had on me. I was not the same person I was before I had read this book, even though my understanding of it barely scratched the surface.
Excuse me, should I expect to see a new thread for the book, or shall we continue with this current thread?
That's a good question. I think someone wrote that we should keep this thread, but I feel like we should have multiple threads for the difference sections to keep us on track. What are the group's preferences?
I'm comfortable with either way. Multiple threads would be very convenient, but will there be enough participants to justify it?
Mod
Katy wrote: "One thread for buddy reads please. Keeps it more tidy."Sure, but this one or a new one?
Mod
Is it too soon to talk about Hans Castorp's cousin, who apparently had had his mindset altered by the, for lack of a better term, high-altitude experience?
ALLEN wrote: "Is it too soon to talk about Hans Castorp's cousin, who apparently had had his mindset altered by the, for lack of a better term, high-altitude experience?"Apparently the relationship between the two characters was in small part inspired by the Ancient Greek myth of Castor and Pollux (or, as the Latin myth is known, the Gemini).
Finally got around to reading The Magic Mountain, Chapter one. The translation is very well done. I have good affinity with Hans Castorp. The prose if not the ideas is very modern sounding.
I hope it isn't too late, Luffy, but I now have that good modern translation of MAGIC MOUNTAIN to hand. When would you like to discuss Chapter two?
Let's just jot down our impressions first. There will be enough time for debate once we've read a few sub headings.
I kinda misunderstood you. You posted while it was 5 am where I live. I've completed Chapter 2 as well. Sometimes the modern prose veered towards the Dickensian. Reminds me of Bleak House.
Pretty slow to get on that train up the mountain, but bear with me.I just read this today, from America-Lite: How Imperial Academia Dismantled Our Culture, discussing the tastes of- wait for it- Rob and Laura Petrie:
...They see lots of movies, including foreign ones (notably Swedish); they have guests who chat about Ingmar Bergman, a 1960s favorite. When the topic turns to the public-spirited doctor and former organist Albert Schweitzer, Dick sits down at the piano and plays a snippet of Bach—the audience being expected to know that it is Bach, and that Schweitzer was famous for performing Bach. Sometimes Dick and Mary sing and soft-shoe as a couple, with casual, devastating charm: no couple has ever done it better, with such flawless musicianship and taste and grace. They visit Manhattan art galleries routinely, decorate their living room with tastefully framed reproduction Picassos, watch ballet on television, and might or might not be reading Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain (another ’60s vogue); at any rate, they have a copy in their living room. And mainly, of course, they think about sex.
I tried googling an image of this, with no luck.
Does anyone know what he's talking about?
It straddles the line between admiration and envy. Or should I say fantasy and outrage?
I don't even know what Rob studied in college. If he went to college? Laura was a USO dancer.
Meanwhile, for the time-challenged:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rxCK...
(Sorry, Luffy, I've had some unusual demands on my time, too.)
ALLEN wrote: "(Sorry, Luffy, I've had some unusual demands on my time, too.)"Reading means never having to say you're sorry.
I've completed Chapter 3. This may have a (view spoiler) kind of suspense, but how long can they stretch it? I'm curious.
I've been meaning to write and say I got thru ch. 2 on my re-read. I take it this is a no-spoiler discussion, is that right? Because I am aching to say something about the time sequencing of MAGIC MOUNTAIN as a whole which would not really "spoil" any plot, but some people might wish I'd hold that info until later nonetheless.
I never saw the movie SHUTTER ISLAND, by the way.
ALLEN wrote: "I never saw the movie SHUTTER ISLAND, by the way."Did you read the book?
Uh, no. So basically any intended metaphor glided right by me. (Beyond being confined to a sanitarium-like hospital, which I pickedup from the IMDb.)
ALLEN wrote: "Uh, no. So basically any intended metaphor glided right by me. (Beyond being confined to a sanitarium-like hospital, which I pickedup from the IMDb.)"
Okay, let's see if others join in the discussion. Eventually.
I can say without fear of introducing a spoiler, that Thos. Mann originally intended to write a short "Davos Story" to be a kind of comic rejoinder to his "Death in Venice" novella. Mrs. Thos. Mann had spent some time in Davos for her TB, and it occurred to Mann that the flip side of Venice - Mephitic - fetid water - Tadzio would have been Davos - frozen purity - clean & sterile - heterosexual. Then WW I happened.
Mann published ZAUBERBERG in 1924, and it quickly became considered a modern classic. Luffy, I'm sure you've observed that Mann can barely say anything about Hans Castorp without some ironic jabs, and that will continue.
While this novel is not yet a what-is-reality? theme in the Philip K. Dick mode, a lot of assumptions are called into question. One of those being, for lack of a better way of putting it, how wonderful was this destroyed civilization that "The Great War" brought down?
ALLEN wrote: "I can say without fear of introducing a spoiler, that Thos. Mann originally intended to write a short "Davos Story" to be a kind of comic rejoinder to his "Death in Venice" novella. Mrs. Thos. Mann..."i didn't observe what you did, Allen. I'm just taking in the ideas and language. Kudos to you for unearthing these references.
This is my third read of the book. I have a B.A. and M.A. in German and the second read was in German. I was FORCED to worry about such things. This book is shot through with irony and the plot gets more interesting (I hope) when Mann's stick figures representing such concepts as Democracy, Theocracy and Authoritarianism have their pieces to say. This is an adult forum, so I hope no one will mind when I say that Clavdia Chauchat means "Claudia Hot Pussy" in slang French. Mann did that deliberately, even the point of understanding that cats have claws in English, so she-who-claws (or is clawed) is a kind of dual-language pun, English in the first name and French in the second.
ALLEN wrote: "This is my third read of the book. I have a B.A. and M.A. in German and the second read was in German. I was FORCED to worry about such things. This book is shot through with irony and the plot get..."Lol, it sure is an adult forum now. Your credentials are very impressive.
I hesitated over using that term -- but it was meaningful, I hope. Thos. Mann was not above that type of wit -- puns more than boundary-pushing.
I concur. I had the choice of taking either Spanish or German for one of my courses. I chose the easier route. I mean, I am going to do the course. I'm not yet completing my education.
I've completed Chapter 4. Still around 25% though, so the last 3 chapters must have really long sub titles.The book is lively, and if things go well, I'll be rating it 5 stars. I didn't know I'd be liking this book so much. I've heard some readers with tough stamina giving up on the magic mountain.
Since it's just us, and since you probably know this already, consider the proportion of the novel taken up with the passage of only one year...
ALLEN wrote: "Since it's just us, and since you probably know this already, consider the proportion of the novel taken up with the passage of only one year..."Okay, Allen. I think this is a great book. Too bad other people are busy with whatever.
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
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