Considered Thomas Mann’s first great novel for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1929. It traces the decline of a North German family which has been engaged in the export grain business for several generations. Like all families, this family has its share of fools, marriage missteps, successes, dreams, individual failures, good and bad luck. We follow one generation, the last of this family from the very summit of their success to their extinction. Are they bad or evil people? Do they lie or cheat in personal or business relationships? No, but none the less, they begin a descent which cannot be stopped and their line withers and stops in the most ordinary of ways.
Mann who was heavily influenced by Schopenhauer, writes in the same general time as Knut Hamsun, Emile Zola, Bernard Shaw, Nietzsche and others and (except for Nietzsche), all reflect a dark side of European thought and belief. While we tend to think of pre-World War I Europe as being positive, there was a side of society, mostly the “intellectuals” who seemed to have lost faith in mankind, religion, the old morals which created Europe and in the future of mankind. Perhaps it was the introduction of Eastern philosophy and mysticism which Schopenhauer helped to introduce, perhaps it was simply a kind of rebellion against the strict codes of the day, but they all reflect a negativism in which no greater goal than survival seem to exist. Many of their ilk did not have children (as is the case with many Western European leaders) and this may have influenced their lack of faith or purpose in the future, but whatever the cause, Mann, like the others helped to pave the way for a future devoid of hope and purpose.
The novel itself is an excellent read; his characters are well developed, the story moves along at an excellent pace and his description of detail makes one feel they are in that time, in those places. In the end, it is sad to see the family disappear, unmourned and forgotten; their fate could have turned out completely different. But novels, like news, don’t really sell if they are positive and so Mann created a family that played to the times and fears of his public.
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