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/lit/ - Literature

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11882105 No.11882105 [Reply] [Original]

>The average reader will spend 14 hours and 38 minutes reading The Magic Mountain at 250 WPM (words per minute).

What am I in for?

>> No.11882333

it’s a dense book. So if this just the average words per min count then i’ts nonsense.
My advice is get the John E. Woods translation, the Porter in pic above is fine but it has that heavy literal German feel which make’s an already difficult book that much more difficult.

Otherwise, make notes, take it slowly and remember the minor detail. On my second time round it was incredible how much Mann gets into the smallest action, such as turning on a light , laying in bed or a simple stroll

>> No.11882344

>>11882333
I still remember Settembrini's hand movement when he's talking.

Also, I think I spent waaay more than the 14 hours.

>> No.11882371

>>11882344
I ones had a long discussion about the significance of Castorp and Settembrini turning light on and off during various key moment’s.

BTW, OP dont let us scare you off, Mann is also a winker and likes his irony. It’s a much more amusing book then it’s reputation would suggest.

>> No.11882434

>>11882371
I don't want to spoil The Magic Mountain for OP, when you mentioned the amusing part, there was something on my mind that happened in the last 80% of the book, I'll leave it be.

Did you notice, in the first 200 pages, until they start exploring the sanatorium to get to know more people, there is little to no mention about death, it's implied, but it doesn't strike anywhere until the main character makes the move. There is a scene where Castrop and Settembrini stand with a girl that will die really soon in front of an open grave. The picture itself is powerful, but the way we get there gives that part even more significance.

I wan to read it again, because there is a lot of philosophy in it. I remember reading, that Mann always built his works, like in the Buddenbrooks, his family was the blueprint. In the Magic Mountain, it's different philosophies clashing against each other.

>> No.11882511

>>11882434
I was wondering about that. What is the significance of Castorp’s sudden interest in the dying.
There the obvious plot reason, that people get interested in their health in that state. And it gives Mann a chance to sound off on a few topics. That are at least a fuckload more relevant then the cosmology and biology chapters ( though those have their reason). But the flowers he sends for example, do they come back at any moment.

also I think it’s not Settembrini but Joachim. Settembrini wouldn't have had the patience for that .

>> No.11882588

>>11882434
I've only read the first 100 pages yet but there have been several references to death already, for example his cousin telling Hans about the dead being sent down with sleighs and the review to how his parents died. But interesting post, motivates me to read further

>> No.11882967

It has been a long long time since I read that book but I rememember is as hundreds of pages of nothing fucking happening, just like Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" but maybe I just approched those books with the wrong expectations.

>> No.11883488

>>11882967
>maybe I just approched those books with the wrong expectations.
might be.

for me:
>what I expected
hundreds of pages of mind-blowing mythical experience taking place in some timeless land

>what I got
hundreds of pages of deeply philosophical modern-mythical semi-bildungsroman experience taking place in some timeless land

>> No.11884261

A crock of shit

>> No.11884277

A masterful work.

>> No.11884533

>>11884277
>>11884261
>The duality of man