Thomas Mann: A Biography [Hardcover]

Ronald Hayman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 1995

An acclaimed biographer provides a compelling portrait of the German novelist, based on his unexpurgated diaries, that sheds new light on the man--his self-absorption, bisexuality, obsession with appearances--and provides new insights into his work. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

German novelist Thomas Mann (1875-1955) played an almost heroic role in keeping German culture alive, and in opposing Hitler, after Germany had surrendered to Nazism; yet this major, dramatic biography reveals a writer who was deeply ambivalent about the Jewishness of his wife, Katia, and who tried, for the first three years of their exile in Switzerland, not to condemn the Nazis publicly. According to Hayman, Mann was terrified the Nazis would get hold of the diaries he had left behind, expose his bisexuality and ruin his reputation. Living behind the facade of married respectability, the guilt-ridden Mann, as the diaries disclose, felt passionate attractions toward boys and young men, including his friend the painter Paul Ehrenburg-though he never "took the step from homoeroticism into homosexuality," in Hayman's analysis. Indispensable for understanding Mann's novels and stories, this literary biography unearths startling connections between his life and work. Prone to convulsive sobbing and fits of nausea, Mann was an aloof father to his six children, two of whom committed suicide. Hayman, biographer of Brecht and Nietzsche, strips away the cultivated mask to plumb a divided soul, "the last great European man of letters" in Hayman's assessment. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Calling Mann "the last great European man of letters," Hayman, biographer of Proust, Kafka, and Sartre, has produced a mammoth biography of the Nobel Prize- winning author of The Magic Mountain. Mann's respectable persona, carefully cultivated throughout his long life, was belied by his diaries (which have been published in installments over the last 20 years). Although his homoeroticism was alluded to in Richard Winston's Thomas Mann: The Making of an Artist (Knopf, 1981) and has been discussed in various articles, Hayman presents the full story of Mann's eclectic emotional and sexual life and how it affected his fiction. The author is sometimes too eager to explain the fiction only as a gloss on Mann's biography; it is doubtful whether self-absorption and obtuseness to the needs of his family were really necessary conditions of his achievement. Nevertheless, this is an impressive accomplishment and the most complete treatment of Mann's life in English. Recommended for large public and all academic libraries.?Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&I Univ. Lib., Kingsville
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Printing edition (March 14, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684193191
• ISBN-13: 978-0684193199
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,727,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exquisite bio by an exquisite writer, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thomas Mann: A Biography (Hardcover)

This is clearly the definitive biography of Thomas Mann ...by perhaps this era's leading biographer .....to be sure there are several bios out there ....but having read the most recent two ....i must say they were merely an excursus compared to Mr. Heymans outstanding effort ! his is both comprehensive and perspicuous ....not an easy task when being an exegete of Mann's life and works ....Mann was both an accomplished author and prescient political analyst .....and led a long and complicated life .....which Mr. Heyman documents with unusual clarity and verve!.. of the three major biographies on T.Mann recently published ....his (heymans) is the best of the trio ....the other two being discursive and garbled thus confusing to the common reader by all means read this edition if you have any interest in T. Mann's work and life...it's COMPLEAT ! thankyou Mr. Heyman !

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Bio of GREAT Writer!!, August 2, 2004

By 

S. Henkels (Devon, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thomas Mann Pb (Paperback)

If you're looking to find the connection between T Mann's great books and his amazing life, this is the book to read! Though this book does emphasize his bisexual tendencies, this is really done in a limited way, mainly in explaining his real experiences in "Death in Venice", and the very late edition to "Felix Krull", easily his most amusing book! Oddly, this man of phenomenal powers of observation was duped at a seance, the experience leading to spiritualist scene (Highly Questionable) in the Magic Mountain. The author does not mention Mann's own observations on this odd subject. in his Essays for 3 Decades. Even more than Hemingway, his family had severe suicidal tendencies, including his sister, sister in law, and two children, including Klaus, a renowned author in his own right. T. Mann was surely an imperious father, distant and aloof, and had his disputes with his older brother , Heinrich, mainly during the great war. Thomas was a great defender of German Kulture, Heinrich an international socialist. Still, his leading role as an anti-Nazi "Good German" cannot be denied, and after the war, he was subject to anti-communist hysteria rumor-mongering in the USA, so he moved back to Switzerland. He was an inveterate traveller, often ill, but still managed to find the time to write some of the greatest literature ever. In sum, an excellent bio of a rare, though flawed, genius!

1.0 out of 5 stars Had to put this book down after the prologue, September 29, 2011

By 

Kamila Naxerova (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thomas Mann Pb (Paperback)

I have read most of Mann's works, including his diaries, and countless biographies and commentaries on his novels. This particular "biography" managed to alienate me so much (in the prologue already!) that I decided not to read any further. Time is precious! Clearly the author has no positive feelings towards Mann, which begs the question why he decided to invest the effort in writing a 600-page tome about him. The prologue is an unstructured and silly rambling about Mann's sexuality, spiced with downright vicious remarks about his alleged "fakeness", selfishness and superficially hidden monstrosity.

Some excerpts from the first 5 pages:

"The diaries reveal that there were no limits to Mann's self-absorption etc."

"Crude and callow though it is, "Little Herr Friedemann" represents a turning point in Thomas Mann's development: He could go on releasing guilt feelings by offloading them on characters"

"Dapper, dignified, and charming, he made a good impression socially, presenting a facade that had little to do with the emotional turmoil in which repressed sexuality, guilt feelings, and literary ambitions were bubbling in a witch's cauldron."

I hope this gives an impression of the literary and human quality of this book. If you are interested in a fair, sophisticated and intellectually deep biography, I would refer you to Hermann Kurzke's beautiful "Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art. A Biography ".