/lit/ - Literature

Read it in midwinter while bedridden for a few weeks with covid. Ideal situation.

What an amazing book, I finished reading it today for the first time. It makes one want to begin writing just to be able to replicate something of the elegance and depth of this book.

This one made me feel good about being european and also to be alive and to be able to understand what Mann was saying about everything.

I'm not erudite enough to give more specific recommendations but can't go wrong with this. Maybe something by Hesse would be good too.

What place in Switzerland can I go to have the same experience as Hans Castorp in Mann's Magic Mountain?

What would Herr Settembrini think of the current state of the West given that his ideals have effectively emerged victorious out of the ideological conflict of the 20th century? What would he think of the progressivism of today? Also - Mynheer Peeperkorn and Naphta: why did they do it bros?

What exactly was Naphtha's ideology? Who should I read to understand him more? I don't know much about philosophy and am curious to know what he was actually advocating for.

comfy long books with beautiful prose like pic related?

I'm about halfway into this book, so I might be wrong about this. Maybe the situation will change eventually, but for the time being, I'm quite frustrated that Mann is so blatantly favoring Naphta in these discussions and imbuing Settembrini with very weak points, which are always incredibly generic and easy to refute using basic common sense and historical knowledge. Settembrini is supposed to be a highly intellectual man, with a profound knowledge of history and philosophy, yet, when in discussion with Naphta, he's only able to articulate some very basic ideas regarding the triumph of reason, human progress, enlightenment and democracy. Naphta, on the other hand, makes quite a few fair but questionable points that Settembrini seems unable to engage with.
Maybe Settembrini is supposed to embody some sort of intellectual failure of liberal thought, but it seems unrealistic. I do think he is quite ridiculous in many ways -- so is Naphta -- , but the man should be able to defend his views more convincingly, judging by how Mann presented in the first half of the book.

>>16610058

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

I've had this bitch for a while now on my shelf, never got around to read it. Is it worth it?

>>13339548
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7gEVSgf9k

>>13297558
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain + Crime and Punishment

>>13136650
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

If youre searching for comfy wintercore look no further

>>12459529
When Joachim died