Contents
Thomas Mann
Writing Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain and Death in Venice.
Buddenbrooks · Death in Venice
- Born
- 6 June 1875
- Birthplace
- Lübeck, Germany
- Died
- 12 August 1955
More people
Thomas Mann
German novelist who examined family decline, artistic ambition and European society. An opponent of Nazism, he continued writing and broadcasting from exile.
Early life
A merchant household
Grew up in Lübeck, where his father was a merchant and senator.
Move to Munich
After his father’s death, the family moved south; Mann briefly worked in insurance before pursuing literature.
Career
- 1890s
Entering literary life
Published early fiction and worked on the satirical magazine Simplicissimus.
- 1901–1929
Major novels
Built an international reputation with Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain, receiving the Nobel Prize in 1929.
- 1933–1955
Writing in exile
Lived outside Nazi Germany, later settling in the United States and then Switzerland.
Selected work
Buddenbrooks
The decline of a merchant family over several generations.
Death in Venice
A writer’s obsession unsettles his carefully controlled life.
The Magic Mountain
A sanatorium becomes a setting for debates about European life and ideas.
Beyond work
A literary family
His brother Heinrich and several of his children also became writers.
Anti-Nazi broadcasts
Addressed German listeners by radio during the Second World War.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and references ↗Institutional biography and career ↗Photo: Nobel Foundation. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
