The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann · Der Zauberberg
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1924
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- German
- Length
- Epic · 720 ppover 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Magic Mountain, translated by John E. WoodsVintage International, 1996The current standard translation, more accurate and more readable than Lowe-Porter's.
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Hans Castorp, a young engineer from Hamburg, goes to visit his cousin at a tuberculosis sanatorium in Davos for three weeks and stays seven years. Diagnosed with a spot on his lung, he settles into the suspended routine of rest cures and meals, falls in love with the Russian patient Clawdia Chauchat, and becomes the pupil of two quarrelling mentors, the humanist Settembrini and the Jesuit-trained radical Naphta, who fight over his soul and finally over a duel. Time dissolves, he has a vision in the snow, and the outbreak of the First World War sends him down the mountain to the battlefield.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Magic Mountain are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
