Mann Thomas Writer (16 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust jacket is fully intact. Clean and fresh contents. Otherwise sound. Size: 21 x 13.5 x 3.7 cm. 557 pp. Text is in German. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Literature & Literary; German fiction; Oedipus complex; Penance; Incest; Middle Ages; Gregory I, Pope, approximately 540-604; German Language; ISBN: 3100483413. ISBN/EAN: 9783100483416. Add. Inventory No: 251212JRE014215.

I: "Das Gesetz". 60¼ pp. on 61 ff. - II: "The Law". 71½ pp. on 72 ff. With a typed list of corrections bound between both parts: (1½+1½ =) 3 pp. on 2 ff. Bound with an alternative version of the ending (1½ pp. on 2 ff.), 4 envelopes (2 with autograph address) by Thomas Mann to George Marek and 6 typed carbon copies of Marek's letters to Thomas Mann. Gilt green calf binding with gilt cover title. 4to. Addendum. Unique ensemble of Thomas Mann's only commissioned work in the German original and the English translation, both containing numerous autograph corrections by Thomas Mann as well as a few more by George Marek, who had the typescripts bound as a personal memento of their collaboration. Thomas Mann inscribed the volume to him on 20 October 1943: "An George Marek / tief gerührt von der Ehre, die er diesen Blättern erwies. Dem glänzenden Uebersetzer herzlich dankbar [.]". - The Vienna-born music publisher, librettist and scriptwriter Armin L. Robinson had emigrated to the USA in 1941, where he succeeded in persuading Thomas Mann to write his first (and ultimately only) commissioned work, a contribution for Robinson's anthology "The Ten Commandments. Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code". A total of ten writers - Mann, Rebecca West, Franz Werfel, John Erskine, Bruno Frank, Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Jules Romains, André Maurois, Sigrid Undset, and Louis Bromfield - composed original stories, each about a different Biblical commandment. When Mann finished his labour in March 1943 after two months of writing, his usual English translator Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter was busy on other projects of his, and so the author approached the Austrian-born music critic and writer George Marek (1902-87), who was based in New York since 1829 and worked for an advertising agency (in 1950 he would join RCA Victor as manager and later serve as Vice President). Throughout spring and summer, Mann and Marek corresponded about details of the translation (the carbon copies of Marek's six letters are preserved here), and in late summer or autumn, Mann's story was published by Simon & Schuster within the anthology, under the title "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me". The first German publication, by Bermann Fischer in Stockholm, followed in 1944, giving rise to a copyright quarrel that was deeply odious to the author. Mann was basically committed to Bermann Fischer (and, through him, to Alfred A. Knopf for the English-language editions), but he had rashly granted copyright to Robinson and permitted Felix Guggenheim to issue a "luxury edition" in his Pacific Press. "As if this weren't enough, Knopf insisted on having the English version of the story done again from scratch by Mann's regular translator, Helen T. Lowe-Porter, a directive Mann described in his diary as 'a terrible blow for Marek', adding, 'I am disgusted by these trivialities' [.]" (Faber/Lehmann, Introduction, p. x). That same year, Mann gifted his autograph manuscript to the Library of Congress, on whose stationery he had penned the story. - Slight traces of handling, otherwise very well preserved with the exception of Marek's carbon copies, which are typed on brittle, severely browned paper. Hinges and extremeties rather strongly rubbed, else fine. - Includes: Thomas Mann, Das Gesetz. Erzählung (Stockholm, Bermann Fischer, 1944). 160 pp. Illustrated original boards. 8vo. First German edition (WG 90). Binding slightly loosened, wrappers browned, interior perfectly preserved. - Thomas Mann, The Tables of the Law. Translated by Marion Faber and Stephen Lehmann (Philadelphia, Paul Dry Books, 2010).

4to. ¾ p. To an unnamed recipient, regretting that he is unable to contribute to what appears to be a youth magazine: "Es ist wirklich keine Respektlosigkeit vor Ihren zweifellos sehr edel gemeinten jugendlichen Bemühungen, die mich zu einer Absage (ich glaube, ich erteilte Ihnen schon einmal eine) bestimmte und vorläufig weiter bestimmen muss. Solche Absagen muss ich alle Augenblicke viel würde- und anspruchsvolleren Organen erteilen, einfach weil mein Kopf nicht frei ist, jeden Wunsch nach einem Beitrag zu erfüllen [.]". - Folds, browned.

4to. 1 page. In German. To a gentleman to whom he returns a manuscript he has sent. He has kept it for a long time, intending to read it ("For indeed, I am reluctant to give the impression of narrow-mindedness and disobedience through my dismissive behaviour", transl.), but due to excessive work commitments he is now unfortunately unable to do so.

(Small) 8vo. Altogether (4+¾ =) 4¾ pp. on 3 ff. Both letters to the German writer Walter Opitz (1879-1963), who had sent Mann his poems: "Lieber Herr Opitz! Nach und nach habe ich nun alle litterarischen Herrlichkeiten, mit denen Sie mich bedachten (nicht wahr, auf die beiden Zukünfte, die ich noch vorgestern in meinem Briefkasten fand, verdanke ich Ihnen?) verständnisinnig ausgekostet: vor allem Ihre Verse, aus denen ein so vornehmes und sympathisches Talent zu mir sprach. Lassen Sie mich Ihnen für den reinen Genuß, den mir die Lektüre gewährte, von Herzen Dank sagen. Ich untersage es mir, diesem Dank einen übertriebenen und falschen Nachdruck zu geben, indem ich die großen Wörter des Lobes und der Begeisterung hervorsuchte, mit denen man sich bei solchen Gelegenheiten erkenntlich zu zeigen pflegt. Sie selbst würden mich auslachen, wenn ich behauptete, daß diese Gedichte irgend etwas verblüffend Neuartiges und Kühnes nach Form oder Inhalt an sich hätten. Ich verhehle sogar weder mir noch Ihnen, daß vielen davon (und nicht zuletzt diejenigen, die von der Romanzeitung veröffentlicht worden sind) etwas wesenlos Epigonenhaftes eigen ist, - wobei übrigens immer noch die Glätte und Anmuth der Form zu bewundern übrig bleibt. Dieser sicheren Grazie gegenüber ist es desto verwunderlicher, daß bei den humoristischen Sachen hie und da kleine böse Geschmacksentgleisungen mitunterlaufen, eine gelegentliche Plattheit, eine allzu triviale Scherzhaftigkeit, - obgleich es eigentlich dumm ist, an so liebenswürdigen Keckheiten kritisch herum zu nörgeln [.]" (16 Dec. 1902). - The letter from California, dated 3 April 1947, discusses a shipment of Mann's "Lotte in Weimar" which had been returned to the sender with the information that books were not allowed to be sent to the Russian-occupied zone: "Da kannst nix machen, wie wir Altbayern sagen zu sagen pflegten [.]". - Around the turn of the century, Walter Opitz had been a member of the literary circle that also included Thomas Mann, Armin Martens, and the brothers Carl and Paul Ehrenberg. - Both letters have punched holes in the left margin (barely touching some letters); the 1947 letter is a little soiled, showing tiny edge flaws.

92 items, ca. 260 pages in all, mainly 8vo, autograph address panels to the postcards, some on Mann's printed stationery, with a few unpublished greeting cards, mainly 1894-1901, together with letters to Erna Grautoff and Karl Federn, mainly Munich and Rome and a few items from Naples, Unterach, Riva del Garda, Dresden, Bad Tölz, Oberammergau and Paris, September 1894-7 July 1925, about twelve letters incomplete (mostly undated letters from ca. 1895-1896), the first two letters with sections cut away, occasional dust-marking and splitting at folds, each letter carefully annotated in pencil by the Austrian National Library (July 1938) and some also with editorial dating (ca. 1975). Important series of ca. 90 early autograph letters and postcards, to Otto Grautoff, about Buddenbrooks, including eleven unpublished items, with poems and transcriptions about his writing, reporting his commission from the publishers Fischer to write a long prose work, specifying the mid-nineteenth-century milieu to be treated in Buddenbrooks, its length and plans to finish it, and finally giving Grautoff a long analysis of its Germanic and Wagnerian nature, discussing Goethe (with quotations of "Alles Vergängliche", from Faust), Shakespeare (Hamlet; Romeo and Juliet), Wagner (Tristan und Isolde), Turgenev, Nietzsche, his brother Hermann, Balzac, Dehmel, Fontane and many other writers, the publisher Fischer, the journals "Simplicissimus" and "Neue Deutsche Rundschau", and reporting his travels in Italy, mainly Rome during the years 1895 to 1897; the collection also includes two autograph poems by Mann, 'Weihnacht' ("O festlich Sternenzelt!"), and, in a letter of 1898, the apparently newly-composed poem 'Nur Eins' ("Wir, denen Gott den trüben Sinn gegeben"), together with a transcription from the love duet in Tristan und Isolde ("Bricht mein Blick sich."), and from Romeo and Juliet ("Komm, Nacht.Verhülle mit dem schwarzen Mantel mir"), poems by August von Platen and others. - T. Mann, Briefe an Otto Grautoff 1894-1901 und Ida Boy-Ed 1903-1928, ed. by Peter de Mendelssohn (1975).

4to. 1 page. To a Mr McNitt, with a few corrections in Mann's hand. Mann clarifies two remarks from a recent interview with McNitt: "I would rather not mention the treaty of Versailles to which the American people is anyhow inclined to attach exagerated [sic] importance, but I only wanted to express that the German people is afraid of being "annihilated" in the case of defeat and that it should be told that nobody on earth is thinking of doing so. The annihilation of other nations is a nazi concept which is absolutely repulsive for the democracies. Another trifle are the 'twenty rooms' in our new home. This number gives an exagerated idea of the modest house we are building, and I would appreciate it if you omit this detail. It was a pleasure for Mrs. Mann and me to meet you." - Provenance: Sotheby's New York, June 26, 2000, lot 222.

1½ pp. 4to. To a lady who had sent him a manuscript, discussing some questions of form, style, punctuation, plot, etc.

8vo and 4to. Together 3 pp. In English, both to Jerome Bengis, on imprinted stationery of the St. Regis: "Although I have myself recently become a musician of sorts, music is not really my field and as a critic of the type of book the author of which you are I am hardly competent" (8 May 1949). On 21 January 1950 he writes: "I have now occupied myself with your play, and although I feel on quite uncertain ground in the dramatic field, I dare say quite generally that your idea is original and its treatment effective and poetic in parts. Of course, the obstacles to a performance are quite obvious to me, for the Church more influential than ever in this country will certainly not tolerate the person of the Redeemer to be brought on the stage, even though the action takes place in pre-evangelic times".

4to. 1 p. In English, to Charles L. Wallis, on his imprinted stationery: "In my latest novel entitled Doctor Faustus which was recently published also in the English language, my hero, a musician, composes several English poems in the original text. The choice of these poems would indicate that I love these particular pieces above all others in the wide field of English poetry".

Large 4to. 2 pp. In German, to Hedwig Fischer, widow of Samuel Fischer who was Mann's publisher, on his name-imprinted stationery. He writes in part: "I just want to send you a greeting, nothing more. Hardly a day has gone by since we got the death notification in Basel, after the return trip from Lugano, without our speaking of you and your husband, and the shock that we felt at the time continues to reverberate and will for a long time. One had to be braced for this farewell, indeed, ultimately one almost had to be for it; and yet I cannot say how it moved me when it became reality. Nearly four decades of cooperation! I was very attached to the deceased. There was a placid cordiality between us, the way I have rarely experienced it in relationships with people, and hardly ever was there a superficial clouding or disgruntlement. Our characters were compatible, and I always felt that I was the born author for him and he my born publisher. I hinted at some of this in the memorial article, which probably came to your attention in the Sunday supplement of the Basler Nachrichten. It is indeed strange the way I rein in my feelings on such occasions, involuntarily suppressing them and growing cold for the sake of psychology and characterization. I'm just not a poet, but must resort to objectivity and distancing. I wouldn't be surprised if this were painful to you in this case. I am myself more satisfied with the two short pages I sent even now for the [Deutsche] Rundschau's memorial issue for [Peter] Suhrkarnp. May this issue turn out to be a very beautiful monument! From Reisiger, who will be coming to visit us in a few days, we heard that the end was gentle and without consciousness. That's fine and well. And you? How has your heart taken the separation? When one has been living side by side for so long and has shared everything! As soon as one starts thinking about life, the tears start to come. Your publishing house has brought out many beautiful and interesting things recently. Extremely interesting the book on Charlemagne. Döblin is planning an essay on it for the Sammlung, I hear, although emigrants otherwise don't like to mention German books, i.e., published in Germany. But what I read from start to finish and with quite unusual interest, was [Martin] Gumpert's Hahnemann, a life I knew hardly anything about and which in this presentation moved me deeply. Farewell, and be comforted! Give my regards to your children and grandchildren, and regards to you".

4to. 2 pp. In German, to Mr. Motschan, on imprinted stationery of the Library of Congress, Consultant in Germanic Literature: "It has been a long time since I received your kind letter of June in which you remembered my birthday with so much affection. But I did receive it and cannot understand why the earlier letter got lost It cannot be the old address which caused it, for I receive many letters that get delivered to Princeton first. It has been a long time since we have lived in Princeton. Actually, my time as a visiting professor there had already run out after one year but was extended for another year as an exception. But every year we are here on the West Coast, and we like it so much that after renting for quite a while we built our own home here in the country, in a beautiful area near Westwood and Santa Monica, and not far from either Hollywood or Los Angeles. It is the fourth house in my life - and I think it will be my final residence. For what it will be like in Europe after this mess - if I live long enough to see it - God knows. Which does not mean that I say Hitler will be able to win this war. I was very happy to hear so much good news from you and I congratulate you on your studies. I can understand that St[efan] Zweig s death affected you so deeply. I cannot approve of his decision - hiding, by the way, an incurable illness of his wife is supposed to have contributed to it - because of the discouraging effect it may have on his companions in misfortune. And yet at the same time he was so much better off than most of them. He was much too soft a person, absolutely peace loving and his attitude was completely in favor of intellectual free trade and he is said to have made a gloomy impression since quite some time ago. R.I.P But he should not have permitted the Nazis this triumph. If he had hated and despised them more, he would not have done it Received my best wishes and let us hope that Switzerland will get through this turmoil safe and sound again!" - Thomas Mann had supported the first World War, which led to a break with his pacifist brother, novelist Heinrich Mann. Thomas had lived mostly in Munich until 1933, when he moved to neutral Switzerland. In 1936, he emphatically disassociated himself from Nazism with an open letter. Then in 1938, Mann came to Princeton as a visiting Professor, and settled in California in 1941. At the time of this letter, Mann was finishing his tetrology, Joseph and His Brothers, and began work on Doctor Faustus. Stefan Zweig, a man of Jewish descent, had developed pacifist views with the advent of World War I, when he moved to Switzerland from his native Vienna so that he could express those views. Between the wars he lived in Salzburg, then emigrated to Brazil in 1938. The horrors of World War II were too much for him to bear, causing him to commit suicide in 1942.

4to. 2 pp. In English, to Dr. Frank Kingdon, President of the University of Newark, on his imprinted stationery: "This is to tell you how happy I am that you accepted the chairmanship of the American Committee for Moral Aid to the other Germany. The idea of contacting the German people directly with the help of such writers, artists, scientists, men of the church who were loved and trusted in pre-Hitler-Germany without ever having been political figures and without having therefore lost part of their prestige, as did all former party leaders, appealed to me from the very beginning. Let me tell you, however, that your acceptance, the certainty of your active participation is giving me a great deal of hope as for the success of our efforts. Letters of invitation to join our German Committee (of which I may serve as something like a Chairman, while my daughter Frik will be its Secretary) are being sent to the following friends and colleagues: Wilhelm Dieterle, Bruno Frank, Professor James Frank, Leonhardt Frank, Lotte Lehmann, Heinrich Mann, Dr. Hermann Rauschning, Ludwig Renn, Professor Max Reinhardt, Renen Schieckele, Professor Erwin Schrödinger, Professor Paul Tillich, Fritz von Unruh, Franz Wefel, Stefan Zweig. As for the American Committee I should wish to leave all decisions to your own judgement [sic]. I would, however, be very glad to discuss details with you as soon as possible. Could you arrange to come here in the near future? Realizing how busy you are I would, of course, be willing to meet you in New York, if this should be more convenient for you. Since, very much to my deep satisfaction, Mr. Paul Willert, President of Oxford University Press has agreed to be the American Committee s treasurer, it might be useful to invite him also to the meeting. All the more so, since, unfortunately, the financial question will be somehow in the foreground of our discussion. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that our chances to really accomplish important effects by what we are trying to do, are much greater than the financial risk involved. Erika is translating this letter for me and although I have full confidence in her ability of making herself understood, I beg your pardon, in case these lines are lacking some qualities of style and language. They are supposed to convey nothing more but my gratitude for your acceptance and my hopes to see you soon".

4to. 1 p. In English, to Dr. Andor Klay, on his imprinted stationery: "But isn't it a strange and characteristic phenomenon of the mental condition of the German of today that the author feels he must apologize for me because of my letter to Molo and even because of my broadcast during the war? He says that, after all, one cannot expect me to possess the qualities of a political fighter, - and all the while I had imagined to have indeed been something like a political fighter during the last two decades".

4to. ¾ p. Quoting the opening lines from his famous essay "Leiden und Grösse Richard Wagners" ("The suffering and greatness of Richard Wagner"), written in 1933. - Minor smudging; punched holes to left edge.

8vo. 1 p. One of Thomas Mann's last letters: to the publisher Kurt Desch (1903-84), for whose anthology "Die schönsten Erzählungen der Welt" (Munich 1955) Mann was to write a preface. In July 1955 the Manns travelled to the Dutch North Sea resort of Noordwijk. On July 17, Thomas Mann there started work on the preface, which he completed four days later. A serious illness forced him to cut his stay short and return to Zurich, where Mann passed away on August 12. The "Preface" thus became his literary legacy. - Slightly faded at edges.