Chapters 1-6 in “Latte in Weimar”

[bearsnotice]

Hi, this is indeed a hard read to make sense of!  I suggested looking at Thachery’s satirical poem about Goethe’s novel to make sense of Mann’s writing style in this novel that is both (the magician’s) Mann’s addressing his own time in the 20’th century and in Goethe’s.

Thackeray wrote a satirical poem about Goethe’s novel, but his satire goes further and makes sense (at least for me) in his b

“Book of Snobs” he published in the British magazine, “Punch” where he says “For the most part we are foolish and selfish people … eager after vanities”.  The interactions in these 6 chapters expose this in the characters Latte is set up to meet, all of whom have motives of meeting with her that are, she realizes, are a means to and end..and thus less about her than access to Goethe, or worse.  The style of writing Mann chooses in my view is less about his arrogance than about the public foolishness.  And connecting two historical contexts…?