The Magician

Heinrich is bereft after Carla’s death, so Katia suggests that she and Thomas vacation with him for a few weeks, leaving the children in the care of a governess and Katia’s mother. Meanwhile, Thomas learns through Katia that Gustav Mahler passed away after a long illness. Thomas, Heinrich, and Katia begin their vacation on the island of Brioni (once part of the Austrian empire, now in Croatian waters) off the Adriatic coast. Katia strikes up a rapport with Heinrich, easing the tension between the brothers.

The three next head to Venice. At the hotel where they’re staying, a Polish boy with golden curls catches Thomas’s attention. He watches the boy, who is often dressed in a sailor suit. One day, the boy doesn’t appear on the beach, and Thomas searches for him. After a while, Katia, sunbathing next to Thomas, quietly tells him that the boy is there. Thomas realizes that Katia knows the nature of his sexuality. Their unspoken agreement is that Katia doesn’t mind Thomas watching men as long as their domestic happiness is undisturbed.

For Thomas’s next work, the novella Death in Venice, Thomas draws inspiration from a combination of the paintings of Renaissance master Vittore Carpaccio, the memory of Mahler, and Thomas’s infatuation with the Polish youth. In the story, the protagonist, Aschenbach, based on Mahler and Heinrich, is a widower who visits Venice and experiences an impossible sexual desire for a boy. Thomas fears that the story may raise eyebrows about his sexuality, but when it’s published, critics interpret the encounter between Aschenbach and the boy as a metaphor for the relationship between beauty and death.

Meanwhile, Katia develops a tubercular spot on her lung and travels to a clinic in Davos, in the Swiss Alps, for treatment. In Katia’s absence, Julia moves to Bad Tolz to help with the children. Erika and Klaus, ages six and five respectively, are loud and precocious, while three-year-old Golo is quieter and self-contained, often withdrawing to the garden to read a book. The baby, Monika, is fussy. Katia writes to Thomas from Davos every day, describing other patients. As the days pass, Thomas misses Katia so much that it takes him by surprise. When he learns that Katia may extend her stay in Davos, he decides to join her for three weeks.

In Davos, Thomas feels as if he has met a huge cast of characters, each with peculiar mannerisms and stories. He and Katia observe them, eagerly swapping stories. When Thomas himself is suspected of having tuberculosis, he has an X-ray. The procedure gives him a unique stroke of inspiration: Fascinated by the pictures of his bones, Thomas thinks the description of the X-ray room and images would be effective in a novel.

Back home, Thomas begins to plot his Davos-inspired novel, The Magic Mountain. As the book takes shape, so does Thomas’s relationship with his children, who until this point have been closer to Katia. To make Erika and Klaus have dinner at the table, Thomas entertains them with magic tricks and physical comedy. Amid the changes in his home life, Thomas senses a shift in Munich. Visiting journalists and artists seem more interested in his political opinions on Germany’s role in Europe than in his writing. Thomas begins to read newspapers so that he can give journalists more informed answers. To lure Katia back to Munich, he writes to her that they need to build—and furnish—a larger house in Munich. Katia returns.

By early 1914, talk of impending war infiltrates even the Mann household. During his visits, Klaus Pringsheim sings songs parodying the patriotism that is the mood of the day. To Thomas’s chagrin, Katia and the children join in, banging pots and pans. Unlike Klaus and Katia, who are critical of Germany’s aggressive stance, Thomas retains more nationalistic views.

Meanwhile, the Manns move to the grand new house Katia had built in the Poschingerstrasse neighborhood, close to the Wurm river. In 1914, the Manns take their annual summer vacation in Bad Tolz, and Thomas is happy to leave politically charged Munich and talk of war. However, the day the Manns arrive in Bad Tolz, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated. Thomas discusses the quickly changing political scenario with the local news agent, Gahler. Gahler believes that the Russians backed the assassination and indicates that the only solution is for Germany to wage war against Russia, France, and England. Thomas is initially unsure about Gahler’s interpretation of the events, but he soon begins to fear for Germany’s future. He’s at his new house in Munich when he learns that Russia has mobilized troops against Germany. Alone in his study, Thomas looks at the beautiful books, each word written in German. Contemplating that the war may destroy the culture that produced the words of his rhythmic, perfect language saddens Thomas. He decides to shelve The Magic Mountain and compose an essay on the painful necessity of war.

Upon his return to Bad Tolz, Thomas learns from Gahler that Heinrich published an essay condemning the war. Gahler thinks that Heinrich should be charged with sedition. Thomas tries to defend Heinrich by calling him “an internationalist.” As the war progresses, Thomas’s youngest brother, Viktor, and his youngest brother-in-law, Heinz, are both conscripted.

Thomas’s pro-war essay wins him admiration from many people but distances him from German intellectuals. His views also widen the divide between him and Heinrich. While Katia stays in touch with Mimi, the Czech actress whom Heinrich recently married, the brothers are virtually estranged. Katia herself quietly disagrees with Thomas’s views. She particularly dislikes his friendship with Ernst Bertram, a writer who believes that Germany shouldn’t be a democracy at all.

Thomas continues to perform magic tricks for his children, endearing himself to them. When Klaus begins having nightmares about a man carrying his own head under his arm, Thomas vows to magically banish the man. Delighted, Klaus tells his siblings, “‘Papa is a magician’” (129). The nickname sticks: The children thereafter call Thomas “der Zauberer.”

The war ends but doesn’t usher in peace. As the economy collapses, a group of socialists, including poets and intellectuals, ignite a revolution in Bavaria (the province of which Munich is capital) and take over the government, declaring the province the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Threats and physical attacks against wealthy residents like the Pringsheims escalate. Once, they throw apples at the older Pringsheim couple, forcing them to flee the street. During this tumultuous period, Thomas’s biggest solace is baby Elisabeth. The German army finally ends the revolution.

Afterward, Thomas receives a visit from a poet who says he’s a friend of Heinrich. The poet tells Thomas that he was on the list of people whom the socialists were to detain, but was saved by Ernst Toller and Erich Mühsam (two young poets who were on the rebel government’s Central Council). Toller is now in danger of being executed. The poet asks Thomas to write a mercy petition on Toller’s behalf. Thomas agrees. Katia soon arranges a reconciliation between Heinrich and Thomas. Heinrich now has a daughter named Goschi. Katia is pregnant again. The Pringsheims want her to terminate the pregnancy as it may take a toll on her health, but Katia decides against the termination. Thomas and Katia’s youngest son, Michael, is born in 1919. Thomas distances himself from Ernst Bertram after Bertram declares that Germany should go to war again.