Reading The Magic Mountain in Arizona: Susan Sontag’s Reflections on Thomas Mann
Susan Sontag’s visit to Thomas Mann on December 28, 1949 has, until now, tended to be treated as a parenthetical anecdote, a biographical curiosity – or, indeed, to be ignored altogether. The truly interesting question of the consequences of Sontag’s encounter with Mann and his work has not even com...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
De Gruyter
2015
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In: |
Naharaim
Year: 2015, Volume: 9, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 89-107 |
Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | Susan Sontag’s visit to Thomas Mann on December 28, 1949 has, until now, tended to be treated as a parenthetical anecdote, a biographical curiosity – or, indeed, to be ignored altogether. The truly interesting question of the consequences of Sontag’s encounter with Mann and his work has not even come close to being answered. This article explores how Sontag’s – often partially autobiographical – statements concerning Thomas Mann combine reflections on authorship and storytelling with thoughts about Germany and, in particular, about the Shoah. Building on this, a further, more general question emerges: what role do the essayist’s secular Jewish origins play in her encounter with the German writer? |
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ISSN: | 1862-9156 |
Contains: | In: Naharaim
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/naha-2015-0010 |