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The Magic Mountain

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The Magic Mountain

Written by: Thomas Mann
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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It was The Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg) that confirmed Thomas Mann as a Nobel prizewinner for literature and rightly so, for it is undoubtedly one of the great novels of the 20th century.

Its unusual story - it opens with a young man visiting a friend in a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps - was originally started by Mann in 1912 but was not completed until 1924. Then, it was instantly recognised as a masterpiece and led to Mann’s Nobel Prize in 1929.

Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912, and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure, and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, some of whom have been there for years, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.

Among them are Hofrat Behrens, the principal doctor, the curiously attractive Clavdia Chauchat and two intellectuals: Ludovico Settembrini and Leo Naphta with their strongly contrasted personalities and differing political, ethical, artistic and spiritual ideals. Hans Castorp’s stay is extended, once, twice and still further, as he appears to develop symptoms which suggest that his health, once so robust, would benefit from the treatments and the mountain air.

As time passes, it becomes clear that the young man, with a particular interest in shipbuilding and not much else, finds his outlook and knowledge broadened by his mountain companions, his intellect stretched and his emotional experience deepened and enriched. Hans Castorp is changing, day by day, month by month, year by year, sometimes imperceptibly, sometimes with a sudden advance, as he encounters the varied range of sparkling characters, their comedies and tragedies, their aspirations and their defeats.

The Magic Mountain is a classic bildungsroman, an educational journey of growth - a genre that began with an earlier novel in the German tradition: Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. It is presented here in the acclaimed modern translation by John E. Woods and is told by David Rintoul with his particular understanding for Thomas Mann as displayed in his widely praised Ukemi recording of Buddenbrooks.©1996 Knopf Translation (P)2020 Ukemi Productions Ltd Classics Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Psychological
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the characters, the breadth and scope of ideas, the location and setting, the discussion of what it is to be ill... my... I didn't expect so much to enjoy, including the subtlest of humour.

what a classic

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nice story line, good description of events surely you feel why this author has received Nobel prize.

magic writing

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Time and a life lived measured by it. It’s how we live the life given to us and retain our human nature the ideal of love which we need to live up to.

An ordinary man - a hero

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A strange, long-winded novel about a somewhat immature young man from the upper crust who unexpectedly ends up spending years in a Swiss sanatorium high in the Alps. The story meanders through episodes involving its eccentric residents, punctuated by lengthy—at times seemingly endless—philosophical exchanges between two opposing intellectuals. Over time, the experience transforms the protagonist in ways that are difficult to articulate. Despite its sprawling narrative and leisurely pace, the novel never quite lets you abandon it out of boredom; its vivid imagery and quietly compelling atmosphere keep drawing you onward.

A strange story of endless episodes but riveting imagery

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marvelously written and translated. the reading is outstanding - atmospheric.. the book is a treasure!

an epic of an ordinary man

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