Thomas Mann's war : literature, politics, and the world republic of letters

This book traces how the acclaimed and bestselling author Thomas Mann became one of America's most prominent anti-fascists and the spokesperson for a German cultural ideal that Nazism had perverted. Thomas Mann, winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in literature and author of such world-renowned novels as Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain, began his self-imposed exile in the United States in 1938, having fled his native Germany in the wake of Nazi persecution and public burnings of his books. Mann embraced his role as a public intellectual, deftly using his literary reputation and his connections in an increasingly global publishing industry to refute Nazi propaganda. As the book shows, Mann undertook successful lecture tours of the country and penned widely read articles that alerted U.S. audiences and readers to the dangers of complacency in the face of Nazism's existential threat. Spanning four decades, from the eve of World War I, when Mann was first translated into English, to 1952, the year in which he left an America increasingly disfigured by McCarthyism, the book establishes Mann as a significant figure in the wartime global republic of letters. In Thomas Mann's War , Tobias Boes traces how the acclaimed and bestselling author became one of America's most prominent anti-fascists and the spokesperson for a German cultural ideal that Nazism had perverted. Thomas Mann, winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in literature and author of such world-renowned novels as Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain , began his self-imposed exile in the United States in 1938, having fled his native Germany in the wake of Nazi persecution and public burnings of his books. Mann embraced his role as a public intellectual, deftly using his literary reputation and his connections in an increasingly global publishing industry to refute Nazi propaganda. As Boes shows, Mann undertook successful lecture tours of the country and penned widely-read articles that alerted US audiences and readers to the dangers of complacency in the face of Nazism's existential threat. Spanning four decades, from the eve of World War I, when Mann was first translated into English, to 1952, the year in which he left an America increasingly disfigured by McCarthyism, Boes establishes Mann as a significant figure in the wartime global republic of letters. Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In Thomas Mann's War, Tobias Boes traces how the acclaimed and bestselling author became one of America's most prominent anti-fascists and the spokesperson for a German cultural ideal that Nazism had perverted.0Thomas Mann, winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in literature and author of such world-renowned novels as Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain, began his self-imposed exile in the United States in 1938, having fled his native Germany in the wake of Nazi persecution and public burnings of his books. Mann embraced his role as a public intellectual, deftly using his literary reputation and his connections in an increasingly global publishing industry to refute Nazi propaganda. As Boes shows, Mann undertook successful lecture tours of the country and penned widely-read articles that alerted US audiences and readers to the dangers of complacency in the face of Nazism's existential threat. Spanning four decades, from the eve of World War I, when Mann was first translated into English, to 1952, the year in which he left an America increasingly disfigured by McCarthyism, Boes establishes Mann as a significant figure in the wartime global republic of letters Abbreviations Introduction: the German envoy to America -- The teacher of Germany -- The greatest living man of letters -- Interlude I: Joseph in Egypt -- The first citizen of the international republic of letters -- Interlude II: Lotte in Weimar -- Hitler's most intimate enemy -- Interlude III: the tables of the law -- A blooming flower -- Interlude IV: Joseph the provider -- The loyal American subject -- Interlude V: Doctor Faustus -- The isolated world citizen. Conclusion Notes References Index "During the period of his American exile in the 1930s and 1940s, the German author Thomas Mann became one of the most prominent anti-fascists in the United States, and in so doing forever transformed our understanding of what a modern writer is and should be doing"-- Provided by publisher This work traces how the acclaimed and bestselling author Thomas Mann became one of America's most prominent anti-fascists and the spokesperson for a German cultural ideal that Nazism had perverted