Author(s): Colm Tóibín, Colm Toibin

Novel | Read our reviews! | Fiction Reductions

When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. But his flawed vision will form the beginning of a dark and complex relationship with his homeland, and see the start of great conflict within his own brilliant and troubled family. Colm Tóibín's epic novel is the story of a man of intense contradictions. Although Thomas Mann becomes famous and admired, his inner life is hesitant, fearful and secretive. His blindness to impending disaster in the Great War will force him to rethink his relationship with Germany as Hitler comes to power. He has six children with his clever and fascinating wife, Katia, while his own secret desires appear threaded through his writing. He and Katia deal with exile bravely, doing everything possible to keep the family safe, yet they also suffer the terrible ravages of suicide among Thomas's siblings, and their own children.In The Magician, Colm Tóibín captures the profound personal conflict of a very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.

WINNER OF THE 2022 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE

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STELLA'S REVIEW:
It takes a certain kind of writer to lift a famous historical figure from the mundanity of the facts to a riveting character in a fictional work. In The Magician, Tóibín reveals the inner workings of the Nobel prize-winning writer Thomas Mann against the backdrop of the first half of the 20th century. We meet Mann as a youngster standing on the landing with his siblings watching their exotic Brazilian mother preparing to descend the stairs to a social gathering at their home in the conservative town of Lübeck. It is a clear image of a close family structure shaped by his rational, business-focused father and effusive mother. The siblings, Thomas and his older brother Heinrich — locked in a close, yet competitive relationship which lasts their lifetimes — and their younger sisters, Lula and Clara — whose lives both end in tragedy — and the baby of the family, Viktor, are arranged as if time stood still for a moment as we the reader walk into their lives. And from here we follow Thomas Mann into adolescence, his growing passions for writing and beautiful boys, and his awareness of the fascinating Katia (his future wife) and her twin Klaus. The twins are from the well-regarded, wealthy and culturally sophisticated Jewish Pringsheim family. Surprisingly, Katia accepts Thomas’s proposal and the couple set up home in Munich. The early part of the book looks at Mann’s time in Italy with his brother Heinrich, as they both set out to be writers, and Thomas’s success in doing just that. His first novels are published to acclaim and he is well on his way to a successful career by the time he marries and starts a family. He is a man of routine, he writes in the morning and can not be disturbed in his study. Katia manages the household and the children, as well as her husband’s business dealings, often advising him on matters that could have sticky unforeseen problems. While it would seem by Mann’s work patterns that his life would not intrude into his literature, the opposite, as Tóibín cleverly navigates us through, is so. Mann’s homosexual desires are hinted at in many of his novels, and the familial, as well as specific situations (eg. Katia’s stay at a TB hospital) are well entrenched in his work. As his family grows and his oldest children enter adulthood, Germany is changing also. Hitler’s brand of fascism is on the rise and the writer Thomas Mann is part of this maelstrom. As Germany changes, it is difficult for Mann to accept that this was not the country he wished to belong to. The idea of Germany as a culturally rich European nation was eroding in front of his eyes. With his socialist brother, and his own unconventional and outspoken twins — Erika and Klaus — along with more radical writers and artists goading his resistance to speaking out he is undoubtedly facing his own demons, as well as the impending political ones. Protected by those who respect him as a writer during the Munich uprising, it is not long until he sees the need to not only speak up, but leave. After a short time in Switzerland, and with other German exiles in France, the announcement of war plunges the family into disarray, and their ability to leave Europe for America provides a welcome, if sometimes confusing, retreat. While Princeton happily embraces the Mann family into their midst, they are not always at home in their refuge. There are confusing demands or expectations on Mann. He at times must speak out against Germany, while at other times, he must stay silent. He is both welcomed as a famous writer, but also, especially as the war presses on, suspect as a German exile. With successive family members to rescue from the oppressive fascist realm and an increasingly dangerous Europe, he is often at a loss to navigate the political machinations of American society. In all this the writing continues, and a move to California, where a new house is built and the Manns live in a bourgeois manner cognisant of their status, gives them a sense of normality. But things are far from smooth. It all runs counter to the chaos of their homeland, the tragedies their own adult children encounter —  who, each in their own way, are reflections of a father whose writing comes first — and the despair that haunts many of his friends and family. Thomas Mann’s repression of his inner world and his increasing disengagement with those closest to him reveal a man at sea in the world, yet sure in his literature. Colm Tóibín's The Magician is a masterpiece, deft and perceptive.

Tóibín brings his immense sympathies and verbal prowess to bear upon the life of Thomas Mann, a writer forced to cope with the turmoil of both public and private life because of war, exile and suicide. Mann's re-evaluation of his relationship to his homeland and his family underlies his novels, and Tóibín reveals the many layers and contradictions of a complex genius. 
>>Inside the mind of Thomas Mann. 
>>At the Thomas Mann House. 
>>What's the story?
>>"Stop this nonsense!"
>>"I grew up in a society where homosexuality was unmentioned." 
>>Socks. 
>>Shortlisted for the 2022 Rathbones Folio Prize.