Book
Mann’s Magic Mountain: world literature and closer reading
- Abstract:
- This is the first study of Thomas Mann’s landmark German modernist novel Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain, 1924) that takes as its starting point the interest in Mann’s book shown by non-academic readers. It is also a case study in a cluster of issues central to the interrelated fields of transnational German studies, global modernism studies, comparative literature, and reception theory: it addresses the global circulation of German modernism, popular afterlives of a canonical work, access to cultural participation, relationship between so-called ‘high-brow’ and ‘low-brow’ culture, and the limitations of traditional academic reading practices. The book intervenes in these discussions by developing a critical practice termed ‘closer reading’ and positioning it within the framework of world literature studies. The book centres around nine comparative readings of five novels, three films, and one short story conceived as responses to The Magic Mountain. They provide access to distinct readings of Mann’s text on three levels: they function as records of their authors’ reading of Mann, provide insights into broader, culturally and historically specific interpretations of the novel, and feature portrayals of fictional readers of The Magic Mountain. These nine case studies are contextualized, complemented, enhanced, and expanded through references to other diverse sources that testify to a lively engagement with The Magic Mountain outside of academic scholarship, including journalistic reviews, discussions on internet fora and blogs, personal essays and memoirs, Mann’s fan mail and his replies to it, publishing advertisements, and marketing brochures from Davos, where the novel is set.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 272.8KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1093/oso/9780192871794.001.0001
Authors
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
- Publication date:
- 2022-10-06
- Edition:
- 1
- DOI:
- EISBN:
- 9780191968020
- ISBN:
- 9780192871794
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1240081
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1240081
- Deposit date:
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2022-02-18
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Karolina Watroba
- Copyright date:
- 2022
- Rights statement:
- © Karolina Watroba 2022.
- Notes:
-
The publisher's version of the introduction is made available here in accordance with rights and permissions. The complete book is available online from Oxford University Press at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192871794.001.0001
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