The Magic Mountain
Description
Hans Castorp is a young man ready to start a career in shipbuilding—but before he does, he decides to visit his cousin Joachim, a patient residing at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the mountains of Switzerland. Castorp enjoys meeting and chatting with the wide array of colorful personalities living at the sanatorium, until its director delivers some bad news: Castorp, too, has symptoms of disease, and must remain at the sanatorium indefinitely. Thus begins a black comedy spanning years, in which he lives and learns in this self-contained world in the mountains.
The Magic Mountain is a bildungsroman and an allegory of the years surrounding World War I, in which Castorp, a naive blank slate symbolizing the Weimar Republic, spends time with the motley crew in the sanatorium, who each represent the nations and ideologies of Europe vying for his attention. World War I broke out and concluded as Mann was writing the novel; at first, he was opposed to the Weimar Republic, but he later changed his mind, and this development in his personal philosophy is reflected in how Castorp and the patients interact over the years, and in Castorp’s ultimate fate.
Adding to the novel’s staying power are its many layers of allegory and allusion, including Greek mythology, European fable, music, opera, and theater, literature, mysticism, numerology, medicine, and philosophy. Above these layers is Mann’s overarching message of illness and death as necessary struggles to overcome before reaching a fulfilled life, a theme from his earlier novella, “Death in Venice,” that he explicitly wished to revisit and expand upon.
Read free
This ebook is thought to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. It may still be under copyright in other countries. If you’re not located in the United States, you must check your local laws to verify that this ebook is free of copyright restrictions in the country you’re located in before accessing, downloading, or using it.
Download for ereaders
-
Compatible epub — All devices and apps except Kindles and Kobos.
-
azw3 — Kindle devices and apps. Also download the Kindle cover thumbnail to see the cover in your Kindle’s library. Despite what you’ve been told, Kindle does not natively support epub. You may also be interested in our Kindle FAQ.
-
kepub — Kobo devices and apps. You may also be interested in our Kobo FAQ.
-
Advanced epub — An advanced format that uses the latest technology not yet fully supported by most ereaders.
Read online
A brief history of this ebook
More details
Sources
Page scans
Other sources
Improve this ebook
Anyone can contribute to make a Standard Ebook better for everyone!
To report typos, typography errors, or other corrections, see how to report errors.
If you’re comfortable with technology and want to contribute directly, check out this ebook’s GitHub repository and our contributors section.
You can also donate to Standard Ebooks to help fund continuing improvement of this and other ebooks.