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Treffpunkt im Unendlichen
Sebastian schreibt, Sonja ist Schauspielerin. Zwischen Kunst und Rebellion leben die jungen Leute in höchster Intensität, doch auch immer nah am Abgrund. Die Goldenen Zwanziger verlieren an Glanz, die politische Lage verdüstert sich: Vor dieser Kulisse fängt Klaus Mann das Lebensgefühl der Verlorenen Generation ein.
- GenresGerman LiteratureFiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1932
4 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
About the author
Klaus Mann
205 books154 followers Born in Munich, Klaus Mann was the son of German writer Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia Pringsheim. His father was baptized as a Lutheran, while his mother was from a family of secular Jews.
Mann's most famous novel, Mephisto, was written in 1936 and first published in Amsterdam. The novel is a thinly-disguised portrait of his former brother-in-law, the actor Gustaf Gründgens. The literary scandal surrounding it made Mann posthumously famous in West Germany, as Gründgens' adopted son brought a legal case to have the novel banned after its first publication in West Germany in the early 1960s. After seven years of legal hearings, the West German Supreme Court upheld the ban, although it continued to be available in East Germany and abroad. The ban was lifted and the novel published in West Germany in 1981.
Mann died in Cannes from an overdose of sleeping pills on 21 May 1949, following further drug treatment. He likely committed suicide because of financial problems and social isolation. He was buried in Cannes at the Cimetière du Grand Jas.
Mann's most famous novel, Mephisto, was written in 1936 and first published in Amsterdam. The novel is a thinly-disguised portrait of his former brother-in-law, the actor Gustaf Gründgens. The literary scandal surrounding it made Mann posthumously famous in West Germany, as Gründgens' adopted son brought a legal case to have the novel banned after its first publication in West Germany in the early 1960s. After seven years of legal hearings, the West German Supreme Court upheld the ban, although it continued to be available in East Germany and abroad. The ban was lifted and the novel published in West Germany in 1981.
Mann died in Cannes from an overdose of sleeping pills on 21 May 1949, following further drug treatment. He likely committed suicide because of financial problems and social isolation. He was buried in Cannes at the Cimetière du Grand Jas.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 22, 2017
The more of Klaus Mann's work I read, the more of a fan I become.
It took me a while to read Treffpunkt im Unendlichen not because I the book wasn't good, but because I needed to get rid of some other distractions to spend time sinking into the book. Luckily, I have finally had that lazy Sunday that enabled me to do that.
There is not much of a plot to the book. It is the story of a group of young friends who start their own lives and careers in the late 1920s / early 1930s Berlin and all the entanglements that this brings - Treffpunkt im Unendlichen is as much an account of the Lost Generation as Fitzgerald's stories, tho I by far prefer Mann's.
In contrast to Fitzgerald, Mann does not hold back on the descriptions of the full range of emotional sensations, not does he spare the details of the seedier side of life - prostitution, drug abuse, suicide, cruelty. Not that his books are dwelling on these themes, but they are present. Where Fitzgerald always caused me to revel in the descriptions of the age but wanting to slap his whiny characters, Mann's characters are much less self-absorbed and create a sense of community on the page that makes it easy to join in, even if this community is dysfunctional.
The dysfunction and doom do not come across as dramatic devices, either. Rather the fates of Mann's characters are mere observations of what happened to people around him, chronicles of the forgotten, the lost of the Lost Generation. There is some realism in this book that surpasses the descriptions of bright city lights, cosmopolitanism, parties, cabarets. There is a sense of foreboding. There is a sense of uncertainty. Most of all there is a sense of how differently people are affected by the ever-changing demands of the world around them, and how at the end of the day each person has to find a way to cope that works for them, because community can be marred by unreliability.
I loved it.
P.S. If people were upset by Mann's depiction of Gustaf Gruendgens in his celebrated work Mephisto, they clearly haven't read this one. The character of Gregor seems to be a blueprint of the character that Henrik Hoefgen in Mephisto was going to be.
P.P.S. I deliberately do not make comparisons to Hemingway. Hemingway's characters (and maybe the man himself) had the emotional range and empathy of a block of wood. In my view, he's just pretty overrated.
P.P.S. I don't know if Treffpunkt im Unendlichen was ever translated other than into Danish (when it was published in 1932), but the title is an interesting choice - I would translate it as "meeting point in infinity", although I have seen people describe it as "rendesvous in eternity". Part of the point of the characters experience is that they long to find someone that they can be one with, but it is not clear whether this is possible or whether are forever existing as separate entities living in parallel with others. But there is some hope that these parallels will cross or "meet" at some point.
Interestingly, this seems to be a point that Carson McCullers seems to take up in her work, too. (McCullers knew Mann, and his sister, and their friends.) It was interesting to see the parallels (ha!) between both writers, but of course I could not say whether McCullers drew any inspiration from Mann's work (even tho she was decidedly close to a mutual friend).
It took me a while to read Treffpunkt im Unendlichen not because I the book wasn't good, but because I needed to get rid of some other distractions to spend time sinking into the book. Luckily, I have finally had that lazy Sunday that enabled me to do that.
There is not much of a plot to the book. It is the story of a group of young friends who start their own lives and careers in the late 1920s / early 1930s Berlin and all the entanglements that this brings - Treffpunkt im Unendlichen is as much an account of the Lost Generation as Fitzgerald's stories, tho I by far prefer Mann's.
In contrast to Fitzgerald, Mann does not hold back on the descriptions of the full range of emotional sensations, not does he spare the details of the seedier side of life - prostitution, drug abuse, suicide, cruelty. Not that his books are dwelling on these themes, but they are present. Where Fitzgerald always caused me to revel in the descriptions of the age but wanting to slap his whiny characters, Mann's characters are much less self-absorbed and create a sense of community on the page that makes it easy to join in, even if this community is dysfunctional.
The dysfunction and doom do not come across as dramatic devices, either. Rather the fates of Mann's characters are mere observations of what happened to people around him, chronicles of the forgotten, the lost of the Lost Generation. There is some realism in this book that surpasses the descriptions of bright city lights, cosmopolitanism, parties, cabarets. There is a sense of foreboding. There is a sense of uncertainty. Most of all there is a sense of how differently people are affected by the ever-changing demands of the world around them, and how at the end of the day each person has to find a way to cope that works for them, because community can be marred by unreliability.
I loved it.
P.S. If people were upset by Mann's depiction of Gustaf Gruendgens in his celebrated work Mephisto, they clearly haven't read this one. The character of Gregor seems to be a blueprint of the character that Henrik Hoefgen in Mephisto was going to be.
P.P.S. I deliberately do not make comparisons to Hemingway. Hemingway's characters (and maybe the man himself) had the emotional range and empathy of a block of wood. In my view, he's just pretty overrated.
P.P.S. I don't know if Treffpunkt im Unendlichen was ever translated other than into Danish (when it was published in 1932), but the title is an interesting choice - I would translate it as "meeting point in infinity", although I have seen people describe it as "rendesvous in eternity". Part of the point of the characters experience is that they long to find someone that they can be one with, but it is not clear whether this is possible or whether are forever existing as separate entities living in parallel with others. But there is some hope that these parallels will cross or "meet" at some point.
Interestingly, this seems to be a point that Carson McCullers seems to take up in her work, too. (McCullers knew Mann, and his sister, and their friends.) It was interesting to see the parallels (ha!) between both writers, but of course I could not say whether McCullers drew any inspiration from Mann's work (even tho she was decidedly close to a mutual friend).
March 15, 2024
„Und sind Bindungen, auf die Menschen sich einlassen, wirklich lockerer, als sie früher waren oder scheinen sie`s nur, weil die Zwangsvorstellung des Besitzes sich zu verflüchtigen anfängt? Ich glaube, sie scheinen nur lockerer.“ (Zitat Seite 138)
Thema, Genre und Inhalt
Dieser Roman spielt in Künstlerkreisen in Berlin und Paris und besteht aus Parallelszenarien, aus Handlungssträngen, jeder davon eine eigene Geschichte, die gleichzeitig stattfinden, jedoch voneinander getrennt sind. Die Figuren kennen sich teilweise, es sind Freundeskreise, die sich manchmal überschneiden, manche pendeln auch zwischen den beiden Städten und Gruppen. Es sind vor allem die Abende und Nächte, die das Leben in dieser Zeit prägen, Menschen auf der Suche nach Glück, nach Ablenkung, nach Liebe, Freundschaft, nach Beziehungen mit finanzieller Sicherheit und neuen Möglichkeiten. Die Figuren in dieser Geschichte finden einander, verlieren einander wieder, treffen in neuen Konstellationen aufeinander. Während der junge Journalist und angehende Schriftsteller Sebastian Berlin verlässt und nach Paris reist, verlässt die junge Schauspielerin Sonja München und zieht nach Berlin. Auch sie treten in die jeweiligen Freundeskreise ein, ohne einander jedoch persönlich zu kennen, bis beide, völlig unabhängig voneinander, eine Reise nach Marokko planen.
Fazit
Klassiker wie dieser sind auf Grund des zeitgeschichtlichen Hintergrundes von zeitloser Aktualität. Gerade jetzt, in Zeiten politischer Veränderungen, stimmt dieser Roman, der in den 1930er Jahren in Deutschland und Frankreich spielt, sehr nachdenklich. Es ist nicht nur die Vielfalt an unterschiedlichen Themen, sondern auch die verschiedenen, realitätsnahen Charaktere, jeder und jede für sich präzise und in ihrem Verhalten nachvollziehbar geschildert, die sich zu einem lebhaften Gesellschaftsbild vereinen und diesen Roman auch heute noch zu einem beeindruckenden Leseerlebnis machen.
Thema, Genre und Inhalt
Dieser Roman spielt in Künstlerkreisen in Berlin und Paris und besteht aus Parallelszenarien, aus Handlungssträngen, jeder davon eine eigene Geschichte, die gleichzeitig stattfinden, jedoch voneinander getrennt sind. Die Figuren kennen sich teilweise, es sind Freundeskreise, die sich manchmal überschneiden, manche pendeln auch zwischen den beiden Städten und Gruppen. Es sind vor allem die Abende und Nächte, die das Leben in dieser Zeit prägen, Menschen auf der Suche nach Glück, nach Ablenkung, nach Liebe, Freundschaft, nach Beziehungen mit finanzieller Sicherheit und neuen Möglichkeiten. Die Figuren in dieser Geschichte finden einander, verlieren einander wieder, treffen in neuen Konstellationen aufeinander. Während der junge Journalist und angehende Schriftsteller Sebastian Berlin verlässt und nach Paris reist, verlässt die junge Schauspielerin Sonja München und zieht nach Berlin. Auch sie treten in die jeweiligen Freundeskreise ein, ohne einander jedoch persönlich zu kennen, bis beide, völlig unabhängig voneinander, eine Reise nach Marokko planen.
Fazit
Klassiker wie dieser sind auf Grund des zeitgeschichtlichen Hintergrundes von zeitloser Aktualität. Gerade jetzt, in Zeiten politischer Veränderungen, stimmt dieser Roman, der in den 1930er Jahren in Deutschland und Frankreich spielt, sehr nachdenklich. Es ist nicht nur die Vielfalt an unterschiedlichen Themen, sondern auch die verschiedenen, realitätsnahen Charaktere, jeder und jede für sich präzise und in ihrem Verhalten nachvollziehbar geschildert, die sich zu einem lebhaften Gesellschaftsbild vereinen und diesen Roman auch heute noch zu einem beeindruckenden Leseerlebnis machen.
October 22, 2010
This fascinating novel by Klaus Mann, the son of literary giant Thomas Mann, and himself a wonderful writer, is a great discovery, which reveals as much about the life and thoughts of its author as it does about the era it depicts and comes from (the book was written in 1932). There's no real plot per say : the novel is more the chronicle of a doomed and self-destructive generation; it's filled with diverse people, and takes place mostly in two cities, Berlin and Paris - with a little detour through Nice. Those characters (some of them more important than others) cross each other, and their dissonant voices mix in a strange symphony that constantly changes tone. The construction plays with that interestingly. Sometimes Ironic and funny, the book is also heartbreaking. It paints a cruel, sharp, sad world about to collapse, and it doesn't shy away from themes that are quite daring for the time, like drugs or homosexuality. It's also extremely prescient politically - Mann's vision of what's about to happen throughout Europe is chilling. In some ways it reminded me at times of Evelyn Waugh's great Vile Bodies, but it is also very evocative of the world of Scott Fitzgerald. It's not a perfect novel, one can feel Mann discovering his gifts as a writer as he writes along, but it's immensely appealing, moving, and instructive.
February 21, 2019
The plot is set in Berlin, Paris and Northern Africa in the 1930s, the years of the upcoming European facism. It describes the different types of personalities in the art scene of that time. The novel has been written before the famous "Mephisto", but Gregor Gregori seems to be a progenitor of its central character.
May 3, 2023
4.5
September 20, 2025
Unbedingt lesenswert, tolle Sprache, anspruchsvolle Geschichte und aktueller Hintergrund, schon erschreckend wie Zeiten sich wiederholen.
July 17, 2012
"Treffpunkt im Unendlichen" (Rendezvous in Eternity) is written by one of the many Manns of the Mann family (Heinrich, Klaus, Erika, Thomas etc.), by Klaus Mann.
In his book he describes the people of the lost generation between the world wars in Berlin, Paris and a little Nice and Morocco. Imagine the shallow people and parties from "The Great Gatsby" multiplied by 10, drug abuse like in the film train-spotting, desperate love & objects of desire and (for me the most impressing) the lurking of totalitarianism ready to take over the world (fascism and communism) paired with the emergence of a somewhat "progressive" society. It's the roaring twenties paired with the great depression.
Everybody says, that Klaus Mann has not found his final style of writing in this book and thus is experimenting and trying to find his style. This is something I can not say about it, because I simply have not read his other books till now.
I really liked his book and I will give it 4 stars.
P.S.: I don't even know if it's available in English, which is a shame.
In his book he describes the people of the lost generation between the world wars in Berlin, Paris and a little Nice and Morocco. Imagine the shallow people and parties from "The Great Gatsby" multiplied by 10, drug abuse like in the film train-spotting, desperate love & objects of desire and (for me the most impressing) the lurking of totalitarianism ready to take over the world (fascism and communism) paired with the emergence of a somewhat "progressive" society. It's the roaring twenties paired with the great depression.
Everybody says, that Klaus Mann has not found his final style of writing in this book and thus is experimenting and trying to find his style. This is something I can not say about it, because I simply have not read his other books till now.
I really liked his book and I will give it 4 stars.
P.S.: I don't even know if it's available in English, which is a shame.
June 13, 2017
Klaus Manns Panorama der Weimarer Republik kurz vor ihrem Untergang ist ein spannendes Zeugnis der Zeit und sein sicherlich bester Roman vor dem Exil. Trotz der vielen parallelen Handlungsstränge und einer Masse an auftretenden Figuren wirkt er erstaunlich fokussiert - fokussierter auch als spätere Werke (man denke an den teils doch etwas überfrachteten "Vulkan").
Sein Leben im Exil widmete Klaus Mann dem Kampf gegen den Faschismus. Spannend bleibt die hypothetische Frage, wie der junge Autor sich nach diesem Roman künstlerisch entwickelt hätte, wäre dieser Kampf nicht nötig gewesen. " Treffpunkt im Unendlichen" ließe da Großes erahnen.
Sein Leben im Exil widmete Klaus Mann dem Kampf gegen den Faschismus. Spannend bleibt die hypothetische Frage, wie der junge Autor sich nach diesem Roman künstlerisch entwickelt hätte, wäre dieser Kampf nicht nötig gewesen. " Treffpunkt im Unendlichen" ließe da Großes erahnen.
October 30, 2015
A novel written around 1930 and playing in Berlin, Paris and Northern Africa in these times - meaning the years of the upcoming European facism and how that affected the art scene. Aspects of Klaus Mann's own life are visible: experimenting with drugs, rejection as an artist and lover, suicide and bohemian attitudes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews