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Love and Enchantment: Three Stories
Not yet published
Expected 26 Jan 273 of Thomas Mann’s most gorgeous, subtle stories of love and conflict, in sparkling new translations, from the author of THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN and DEATH IN VENICE.
“The greatest German novelist of the 20th century.” ― Spectator
This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. His matchless understanding of character, subtle ironies and layered plots are on full display in these tales of innocence and experience, the pain of individuality and the consolations and limitations of art.
“Tonio Kröger” is a classic story of the artist’s formation, infused with profound melancholy. After early, bruising experiences in love, young Tonio retreats into an ideal world of literature, believing that the artist must retain a distance from the lived experience of life. Never quite able to shake his envy of those who seem able to enjoy the moment, the older Tonio returns to his roots in search of resolution.
Alongside this great work are 2 stories that dramatize with profound understanding the conflicts and changes of Mann’s time. In “Disorder and Early Sorrow,” the rush of new sexual freedoms upsets the stable order of older generations at a party during a time of social strain, while “Mario and the Magician” recounts a family’s ill-fated holiday in 1920s Italy, where misunderstandings and bizarre performances reveal the sharp edge of nationalist fervor.
Translated with luminous clarity by Lesley Chamberlain, Love and Enchantment offers an expansively beautiful selection of the work of one of the world’s great writers.
“The greatest German novelist of the 20th century.” ― Spectator
This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. His matchless understanding of character, subtle ironies and layered plots are on full display in these tales of innocence and experience, the pain of individuality and the consolations and limitations of art.
“Tonio Kröger” is a classic story of the artist’s formation, infused with profound melancholy. After early, bruising experiences in love, young Tonio retreats into an ideal world of literature, believing that the artist must retain a distance from the lived experience of life. Never quite able to shake his envy of those who seem able to enjoy the moment, the older Tonio returns to his roots in search of resolution.
Alongside this great work are 2 stories that dramatize with profound understanding the conflicts and changes of Mann’s time. In “Disorder and Early Sorrow,” the rush of new sexual freedoms upsets the stable order of older generations at a party during a time of social strain, while “Mario and the Magician” recounts a family’s ill-fated holiday in 1920s Italy, where misunderstandings and bizarre performances reveal the sharp edge of nationalist fervor.
Translated with luminous clarity by Lesley Chamberlain, Love and Enchantment offers an expansively beautiful selection of the work of one of the world’s great writers.
- GenresShort StoriesGermany
208 pages, Paperback
Expected publication January 26, 2027
About the author
Thomas Mann
2,315 books5,715 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
See also:
Serbian: Tomas Man
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate in 1929, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur.
See also:
Serbian: Tomas Man
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate in 1929, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
January 18, 2026
3.5 Stars.
The stories wavered in consistency - whilst all were interesting the emotional draw was a slightly more difficult one to feel pulled into. The accompanying afterword is fascinating and very well written. If you like Mann, it is worthwhile and rewarding to familiarise yourself with these tales in a biographical interest.
The stories wavered in consistency - whilst all were interesting the emotional draw was a slightly more difficult one to feel pulled into. The accompanying afterword is fascinating and very well written. If you like Mann, it is worthwhile and rewarding to familiarise yourself with these tales in a biographical interest.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review