4.0
Buddenbrooks
ByPublisher Description
A Major Literary Event: a brilliant new translation of Thomas Mann's first great novel, one of the two for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1929.
Buddenbrooks, first published in Germany in 1900, when Mann was only twenty-five, has become a classic of modem literature -- the story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany. With consummate skill, Mann draws a rounded picture of middle-class life: births and christenings; marriages, divorces, and deaths; successes and failures. These commonplace occurrences, intrinsically the same, vary slightly as they recur in each succeeding generation. Yet as the Buddenbrooks family eventually succumbs to the seductions of modernity -- seductions that are at variance with its own traditions -- its downfall becomes certain.
In immensity of scope, richness of detail, and fullness of humanity, Buddenbrooks surpasses all other modem family chronicles; it has, indeed, proved a model for most of them. Judged as the greatest of Mann's novels by some critics, it is ranked as among the greatest by all. Thomas Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929.
Buddenbrooks, first published in Germany in 1900, when Mann was only twenty-five, has become a classic of modem literature -- the story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany. With consummate skill, Mann draws a rounded picture of middle-class life: births and christenings; marriages, divorces, and deaths; successes and failures. These commonplace occurrences, intrinsically the same, vary slightly as they recur in each succeeding generation. Yet as the Buddenbrooks family eventually succumbs to the seductions of modernity -- seductions that are at variance with its own traditions -- its downfall becomes certain.
In immensity of scope, richness of detail, and fullness of humanity, Buddenbrooks surpasses all other modem family chronicles; it has, indeed, proved a model for most of them. Judged as the greatest of Mann's novels by some critics, it is ranked as among the greatest by all. Thomas Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesBuddenbrooks Reviews
4.0
“Thomas Manns Buch ist wohl, neben Tonio Kröger, eines dieser Werke, die am meisten autobiografische Züge enthalten.
Der Name ist Programm und wir erleben, wie schon der Untertitel des Buches >>Verfall einer Familie<< den Niedergang, konstant und steil, der Buddenbrooks.
Die Prosa, wenn anfangs sehr langatmig und gewöhnungsbedürftig, zieht sie einen nach den ersten 30 Seiten in den Bann und lässt einen auch nicht los.
Das Buch hat sicherlich an der ein oder anderen Stelle zu viel, aber die letzten 250 Seiten haben es zur waren Weltliteratur gemacht. Ich verstehe sehr wohl, weshalb Mann 1929 den Nobelpreis bekommen hat.
Ich werde mir auf jedenfall weitere Werke von Mann durchlesen, denn seine Schreibweise ist dichterisch, seine Figuren lebensecht und seine philosophische Passagen sind wirklich beachtlich gewesen. Man findet sich und andere Personen vereinzelt wieder, ohne aber dass der Roman in Klischees verfällt.
Als Einstieg für Thomas Mann eher ungeeignet, da empfiehlt sich der Griff zu einem seiner vielen Novellen. Dennoch empfehlenswert und jeder, der etwas von deutscher Literatur verstehen will, muss dieses Buch gelesen haben.”
BelievableChange and growLimited character growthMinor characters stand outStrong relationshipsEpic scopeSlow-pacedSteady pacingWell-structuredHistoricalNostalgicRealisticSetting fits the storyBeautifully-writtenDenseDescriptiveFlowery/lushFunnyOriginalTakes getting used toWittyAbuseChild lossDeathEating disordersRacismSubstance abuseViolenceWar violence
About Thomas Mann
John E. Woods is the distinguished translator of many books -- most notably Arno Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold, for which he won both the American Book Award for translation and the PEN Translation Prize; Patrick Suskind's Perfume, for which he again won the PEN Translation Prize in 1987; Mr. Suskind's The Pigeon and Mr. Summer's Story; Doris Dorrie's Love, Pain, and the Whole Damn Thing and What Do You Want from Me?; and Libuse Monikova's The Facade. Mr. Woods lives in San Diego and is currently at work on a translation of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain.
Other books by Thomas Mann
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
