Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann

[dorothysatterfield]

Hi, Matthew. I love your thoughtful reviews. Will you ever return to YouTube? You are missed.

[Jiminy-trx]

Hey Matthew where you at, come back - we miss you, man
One of my favorite and most treasured, cherished and loved channels of all time - thank you man :) <4

[maxjohanni]

My favorite Book! Glad to be able to read it in the original German.

[danielfranceschi]

I remember having heard you speak on other occasions about this particularity of Mann's that, aware of the complexity of the work he wrote, guides us through the pages, and it seems truly accurate to me. I always remember the preface to “Magic Mountain”, the first contact I had with Thomas Mann, and how I was impressed by the narrator's self-awareness in those sentences. Even though in "Doctor Faustus" the narrator's interventions are, in general, less conspicuous, Mann's ability to put himself in the reader's place and arrange the words, paragraphs, chapters in such a sparkling tapestry as to provide a pleasant trajectory, despite the density that emerges from the pages, is truly remarkable.

Adrian's dialogue with the devil keeps giving me goosebumps. One of the greatest moments in the history of Literature; i'd love to be able to read it in german, people say the "language game" throughout this passage is sublime.

[Bambles]

I miss your reviews and discussions Matthew. I hope you are well and return to YouTube when life allows.

[Barklord]

I'm checking in to see if you're still tubing. Looks like I'm not the only one.

[aaronfacer]

This was great, Matthew! I totally agree with you about how welcoming Mann is with his narrative voice. I really love The Magic Mountain — I'm hoping to follow it up with some of his short(er) stories, and then maybe Doctor Faustus will follow...

[albertschweitzer]

It's a pleasure to listen to you! Doctor Faustus is one of my facourite novels, although it took me at least four weeks to get through, many years ago. Some time ago I had the idea to create a playlist with all the music Mann writes about. Maybe one day ... As you loved the novel you may also enjoy the companion volume "The Story of a Novel: The Genesis of Doctor Faustus." It explains some things, but does not destroy the mystery, imo.

[claudiaferreira]

I'm very curious to read it now, I loved the conversations in The Magic Mountain

[petervalente]

Thanks for the review! Doctor Faustus is one of my favorite novels. What Mann noticed and came to realize was an irrational component associated with artistic creation which he attributed to a shift in consciousness. An interiority (acute self-awareness) which tended to dissolve the sense of an external world, imagination de-romanticized and become the herald of abstraction in support of the spiritual. The irrational reappears thus disguised as Reason. How this in fact opened a Pandora’s box in the form of introspection, developing its own persistent methodology, and somehow conjuring a world as imbued with the sense of pre-destination and all its attendant angels and demons straight out of the Middle Ages. Mann asks how can this abstracting intellect, with the self-effacement this involves, with its denunciation of the body in pursuit of the mind’s higher aspects, in any way achieve a sense of the lyrical? The absence of the Author which is modernity’s heritage. But not so much the absence of the personal but its displacement. Apollo instead of Dionysus. Can such an art of the mind be lyrical, in the absence of Dionysian passion. These are some of the questions that remain with me long after reading Mann’s Doctor Faustus. By the way, some of the questions that I think about, regarding this novel, are: 1) Does Leverkühn share in the guilt of moral cowardice? 2) Does his art transcend his audience or represent it? 3) Is there hope for amoral art? 4) Can art overcome its elitist aloofness and still not fall into banality? 5) Is art in the service of the community possible without manipulation by the powerful?

[therelief]

Hey Matthew, where the hell did you go to?

[Earendil]

I just watched your review on Belladonna and I’m going to be reading this one next

[frankmorlock]

Very nice review, Matthew. I've never read Mann's Faustus, but I did read both Goethe's Faust, and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. I liked the Goethe version best. But it is long wi=nded in places, though it was adapted very effectively to French stage by Adolphe D'Ennery. As for Mann the only book of his I am sure I have read is Lotte in Weimar, Lotte being Goethe's muse. It was a good book, short (maybe 250 pages) and unpretentious. But it had the same effect on me as Silas Marner, regarding George Eliot. I thought the book was good, well written and enjoyable, but it also left me with the feeling : I really don't want to read anything else by this author. Usually, if I like a work, I want to read more the author, time and other interests permitting. But not so, either Eliot or Mann, although your presentation makes me want to give Mann another chance, time etc permitting.

[leafyconcern]

I know exactly what you mean by the inviting prose that says "We're going to walk through this together." It makes Mann cozy to read.

[MasterBeev]

I thought one of the oddest things about this book is that Adrian has a friend that seems to understand him more than the narrator. I kept thinking, “shouldn’t he be the narrator?” I think Mann might of done this intentionally as a joke.

[marichristian]

Wonderful novel. It helps to have a knowlege of music. In the aftermath of its publication, Mann and Schoenberg were engaged in a feud. The letters exchanged make for fascinating reading. I can honestly say that I prefer Mann's Dr Faustus to "The Magic mountain".

[ThatReadingGuy]

I read this a few years ago and was baffled by it. It was too dense for me, even though I knew it was brilliant and I know one day I will reread it. It was my first Mann novel after loving his short stories. How come this dense work appealed to you while Joseph and His Brothers did not?

[watermelonman]

I hope this 4 month lull in content means that you're taking a break from a very punishing reading regimen. Being well-read is great but there's always more books to read and we must refresh ourselves from time to time by swimming in the ocean of experience if we want to actualise ourselves and be fully human. Life's what happens when we're making other plans.

[deanaz]

Hey Matthew, where u at ? It’s been awhile. Any reading ? I been reading Petersburg by Andrei Bely. This is a must. Like WOW ! I buy you a copy if u will read and review. Pretty confident u will like. Or did u already ? I have the penguin Mcduff translation, but do compare some passages with john Elsworth translation. Hope all is well

[Manfred-njvz]

This is a wonderful channel indeed. May I suggest a book recommendation? Please read Nikos Kazantzakis. Try his novel "Christ Recrucified". Greetings from Greece.