Lecture Notes, Thomas Mann
Questions to Consider:
Discussion Quotes:
“He felt
a sudden, strange expansion of his inner space, a rambling unrest, a youthful
thirst for faraway places, a feeling so intense, so new—or rather so long
unused and forgotten—that he stood rooted to the spot, his hands behind his
back and his gaze to the ground, pondering the essence and direction of his
emotion” (1841).
“It was
wanderlust and nothing more, but it was an overwhelming wanderlust that rose to
a passion and even to a delusion” (1841).
“He had
to admit it to himself; it was the urge to escape that was behind this yearning
for the far away and the new, this desire for release, freedom, and
forgetfulness” (1842).
“Even as
a young man, to be sure, he had considered perfectionism the basis and most
intimate essence of his talent, and for its sake he had curbed and cooled his emotions”
(1842).
“Gustav Aschenbach, the author of the clear
and vigorous prose epic on the life of
“Early
on an observant critic had described the new type of hero that this writer
preferred, a figure returning over and over again in manifold variation; it was
based on the concept of an ‘intellectual and youthful manliness which grits its
teeth in proud modesty and calmly endures the swords and spears as they pass
through its body’” (1845).
“…he
realized with something like horror that this youth was not genuine” (1849).
“The man
had a disagreeable, indeed a brutal-looking appearance” (1853).
“A broad
horizon, tolerant and comprehensive, opened up before him. All
the great languages of Europse melded together in
subdued tones” (1855).
“Aschenbach noted with astonishment that the boy was
perfectly beautiful” (1855).
“When Aschenbach opened his window, he thought he could detect
the stagnant smell of the lagoon” (1857).
“He cast
his writing materials aside and turned his attention back to the sea” (1860).
“There
he spent a considerable length of time in front of the mirror looking at his
gray hair and his severe, tired face” (1986).
“He had had occasion to notice, however, that Tadzio’s
teeth were not a very pleasing sight” (1862).
“For the second time, and this time definitively, it became clear
that this city in this weather was particularly harmful to his health” (1862).
“This
conflict between the inclination of his soul and the capacity of his body
seemed to the aging traveler suddenly so weighty and so important, his physical
defeat so ignominious, so much to be resisted at all cost, that he could no
longer grasp the ease with which he had reached the decision yesterday, without
serious struggled, to acquiesce” (1864).
“The
traveler, not twenty minutes after his arrival at the station, found himself
once again on the Grand Canal on his way back to the Lido” (1865).
“Too late! He thought at that moment. Too late!”
(1870).
“But
today he seemed paler than usual” (1873).
“In the
fourth week of his stay on the Lido Gustav Aschebach
made a number of disturbing discoveries regarding events in the outside world”
(1874).
“Thus Aschenbach felt a dark satisfaction
over the official cover-up of events in the dirty alleys of
“How has
this come to pass?” (1877).
“Obsessed
with finding out the latest and most reliable new about the status and progress
of the disease” (1877).
“Reliable
information was simply not available” (1878)
“They
prompted the authorities stubbornly to maintain their policy of concealment and
denial” (1883).
“The
black-haired boy, apparently instantly regretting his transgression, caught up
with him and tried to make up” (1889).
“Minutes
passed before anyone rushed to the aid of the man who had collapsed to one side
in his chair” (1890).
Sample Short Essay Answer
Questions:
Explain why you agree, agree in part, or disagree with the following statements.
Make sure you explain your answer, using textual evidence. You may use your
textbook to locate quotes; do not use any outside sources.