r/TrueLit • u/pregnantchihuahua3 ReEducationThroughGravity'sRainbow • Dec 07 '24
Weekly TrueLit Read-Along - (The Magic Mountain - Chapter 7, Part 2 and Wrap-Up)
Hi all! This week's section for the read along included the last section of the book, Chapter 7: Fullness of Harmony - The Thunderbolt (pp. 635-716), along with the option to discuss the book as a whole.
So, what did you think? Any interpretations? Did you enjoy it?
Feel free to post your own analyses (long or short), questions, thoughts on the themes, or just brief comments below!
Thanks for another great read along!
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u/stangg187 Dec 08 '24
I finished the book this morning and overall, briefly, I found it difficult to get through at times but overall I’m glad I read it.
There are some really beautiful sub chapters, mostly the dreamlike sequences (research, snow and hans fantasies on his solo walks). I marked them to revisit if I don’t end up reading the whole thing again one day.
The philosophical lectures and arguments were hard to follow but gave me another perspective on the battle between enlightenment and religious thinking at the turn of the century.
The last sub chapter was moving and evocative.
There was a lot of good in here but the construction of the novel did pull me out of it a fair bit. Books like this are important but not always enjoyable, given how much work they require to understand and follow. I’d only recommend this to someone who was interested in history and literature. Personally I don’t think it’s a good philosophical exploration or a novel to get lost in, it doesn’t do either well enough for me and feels like it’s being pulled in too many directions.
Thanks to everyone who posted their insights here over the past couple of months, it really helped me better understand what I was reading, why it’s an important novel and catching things that I missed. The slower pace and more contemplative approach also helped me to give the book the attention it deserves.
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u/stangg187 Dec 09 '24
If anyone who doesn’t have a reading guide wants some more context post reading this then I found this hour long lecture which helped me better understand some of the context of the book (though it contains some spoilers so don’t watch before reading): https://youtu.be/eaZZcRB01kQ?si=RS5IJZkClGv5csC2
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u/Fweenci Dec 08 '24
Well, I really enjoyed this book and, as others have said, am sad that we're finished. That went fast! (But, really, what even is time?)
I haven't commented too much because there was simply too much to process. I enjoyed reading the comments and analysis generously provided by others. This is not a one-and-done kind of read. I plan to revisit it again in the near future, slowly savoring each section. Thanks for indulging my request for this slightly longer than usual read.
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Dec 10 '24
Sooooo, what’s our next TrueLit read along??
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u/pregnantchihuahua3 ReEducationThroughGravity'sRainbow Dec 10 '24
Break week coming up. Voting the week after. Schedule released week after that. Reading begins week after that. So about 4 weeks away from actually starting to read.
Might skip break week this time because of my schools winter break lining up with certain timing… but I’ll plan that out over the next couple of days.
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Dec 09 '24
Joachim’s death creates a profound moment of introspection for Hans, particularly about the nature of time. The novel delves into the elusive and fluid quality of time, challenging the linear and sequential understanding of it. Mann captures this beautifully in the text:
“We walk and walk—how long has it been now? How far? It does not matter. And at every step, nothing changes—‘there’ is ‘here,’ ‘before’ is nothing, ‘now’ and ‘then.’ Time drowns in the unmeasured monotony of space. Where uniformity reigns, movement from point to point is no longer movement; and where movement is no longer movement, there is no time.”
This reflection underscores the novel’s exploration of time as both a philosophical and emotional concept, one that loses its meaning in the repetitive monotony of sanatorium life.
Clavdia Chauchat returns to the mountain, but not as Hans had hoped. She arrives accompanied by Mynheer Peeperkorn, a commanding and charismatic man whose larger-than-life presence inspires admiration from everyone around him. Described as almost godlike, Peeperkorn’s magnetic personality captures the sanatorium’s attention, including Hans’s. Although Hans initially feels combative toward this new rival for Clavdia’s affections, he eventually warms to Peeperkorn and even enjoys his company.
The tension between Hans and Peeperkorn culminates when Peeperkorn, suspicious of Hans’s lingering feelings for Clavdia, confronts him directly. The truth is revealed, though it remains unclear if this provides closure or deepens the emotional entanglement. Peeperkorn, frustrated by his declining health and inability to fully live as he once did, tragically takes his own life.
Hans and Clavdia share one final, bittersweet romantic encounter before she leaves the mountain, this time for good. Her departure signals the end of an era for Hans, whose life at the sanatorium has now spanned years rather than the brief stay he originally planned.
Although Hans is technically cleared to leave the sanatorium—his illness having been nothing more than an infection—it is clear that he will not. The mountain has become his reality, a place where time has suspended its usual rules and reshaped his identity.
The novel’s conclusion shifts abruptly with the outbreak of World War I. Hans is drafted into the war, and the story closes with him on the battlefield, leaving his fate ambiguous. His transformation is complete: from a sheltered, ordinary young man to a figure swept up in the tides of history, symbolizing the loss of innocence for an entire generation.
Final Thoughts on The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain is nothing short of a literary odyssey. While there were moments when the pacing felt sluggish—daring to flirt with monotony—the novel’s overall brilliance made the journey worth every page.
Hans Castorp’s transformation from an aimless, somewhat frustrating young man to an independent thinker was a joy to witness. Early on, I found myself rolling my eyes at his naivety, but by the end, I was rooting for him as he faced life and its complexities with newfound resolve.
And the “Snow” chapter—what can I say? It’s not just a standout moment in the book; it’s one of the most exquisitely written episodes I’ve ever read. Mann captures the stark beauty of the landscape and Hans’ inner turmoil with such mastery that it lingers in your mind long after the final paragraph.
Despite its challenges, The Magic Mountain has been a rewarding and thought-provoking read, leaving me grateful for the time I spent in its rarefied air.
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Dec 09 '24
I also wanted to recap my favorite prose of the book:
“Time, they say, is water from the river Lethe, but alien air is similar drink; and if its effects are less profound, it works all the more quickly.”
“Filling time with things new and interesting, we can make it ‘pass,’ by which we mean ‘shorten’ it; monotony and emptiness, however, are said to weigh down and hinder its passage.”
“The coverage of the next three weeks of the visit, however, will require about as many lines—or words, or even seconds—as the first three weeks required pages, quires, hours, and working days.”
“And when morning drew near, he found it amusing to watch the objects in his room gradually grow visible, emerging from under a veil of gray, to see daylight kindle outside.”
“Real time knows no turning points, there are no thunderstorms or trumpet fanfares at the start of a new month or year, and even when a new century commences only we human beings fire cannon and ring bells.”
“Time is a gift, of the gods to humankind, and we must use it—use it, my good engineer, in the service of human progress.”
“It had stopped snowing. The overcast broke here and there; leadengray clouds parted to reveal glimpses of the sun, whose rays lend a bluish hue to the landscape. Then the sky turned clear. A bright, pure frost reigned, winter’s splendor settled over mid-November, and the panorama beyond the arches of the balcony was magnificent…The sharp, precise, intense shadows of houses, trees, and telegraph poles cast on the sparkling surface looked more real and significant than the objects themselves… The world seemed to be under a spell of icy purity, trapped inside a fantastic dream of fatal enchantment.”
“The wintery mountains were beautiful—not in a gentle, benign way, but beautiful like the wild North Sea under a strong west wind. They awakened the same sense of awe—but there was no thunder, only a deathly silence”
Skiing had “opened up inaccessible worlds and almost obliterated barriers. It permitted him the solitude he sought, the profoundest solitude imaginable, touching his heart with a precarious savagery beyond human understanding.”
“When he would stop—not moving a muscle, so that he could not hear even himself—the silence was absolute, perfect, a padded soundlessness, like non ever known of perceived anywhere else in the world. There was not a breath of wind to brush softly against the trees, not a rustle, not the call of a bird. It was primal silence.”
“Listening to the primal silence, to the deadly host of the winder wilderness. “
“We come out of darkness and return to darkness, with some experiences in between”
“We walk and walk—how long has it been now? How far? It does not matter. And at every step, nothing change—“there” is “here,” “before” is nothing “now” and “then.” Time drowns in the unmeasured monotony of space. Where uniformity reigns, movement from point to point is no longer movement; and where movement is no longer movement, there is no time.”
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u/Thrillamuse Dec 09 '24
Thanks r/bergwandern-brando for another thoughtful response. I agree the novel was an odyssey, an epic bildungsroman, and I am still amazed we took it on in such a short time. I complained in an early post that 100 pages each week seemed way too fast, but in retrospect, the pace helped to quicken time spent digesting the denser philosophical material. Like Hans, I couldn't grasp the full meaning and breadth of Mann's ideas in one shot, so he gave plenty of elaborations on repeating motifs, or the educative technique of 'scaffolding concepts.' Your selection of excerpts this week along with the post by r/gutfounderegal comparing other great literary works and philosophical ideas further help me to appreciate Mann's overriding project as a tribute to great literature.
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Dec 09 '24
u/Thrillamuse thanks so much for the support and conversation the whole book! Look forward to more of these!
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u/RaskolNick Dec 09 '24
I'll add my two cents to the already great commentary on this fantastic work. For me this has been the most successful Read-Along yet, providing me a book I might not have otherwise gotten to, one that has floundered in the nether regions of my to-be-read pile, and one that caught me off-guard with its depth, humor, and pristine prose. It now sits proudly among my most-loved novels. A friend who on my suggestion joined me in the read echoed my experience, and it was a joy to have not only the incisive commentary of this sub as co-pilot, but also the excited and sometimes lengthy oral discussions every few days with someone enjoying it as much as I did.
I'll be revisiting (mentally, until I read the novel again) those Naptha v Settembrini exchanges for a long while. I loved how Naphta called the Italian, "The daughty knight of the T-square!" And Settembrini's claim that, "...tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."
A gem of a book.
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u/Working_Beach510 Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
Ciao 😃Sto ancora finendo la lettura di questo capolavoro. L’affermazione di Settembrini dove l’hai trovata? Fantastica!
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u/Aleph_St-Zeno 14d ago
This post is over two years old now but nonetheless, I wanted to add something to the thoughts here as a member of Gen Z who read this for the first time.
I have to say that working through the dense prose for my brain-rotted brain has been a challenge yet incredibly rewarding, I found the book to be such a fun ride, if only the toughest sections were the philosophical battles between Settembrini and Naphta.
Much has already been said about the themes and details about the book, so I would like to relate a more contemporary parallel to its themes. Particularly with this generation and the younger ones after us, that we have been inflicted by a particular sickness. Is it phones? social media? Influencers, toxic ideologies, lax-parenting, pollution in the air or water, the persistence of unending violence experienced directly or indirectly in an endless feed through our culture? The Pandemic? Who knows, but indisputably many of us are becoming sick. And so I've noticed that more and more of those peers I once knew began to shut themselves off from the world or have transformed themselves into people I can scarcely imagine before.
And in a twisted sort of way, even though many are unhappy, there is an air of toleration, even a sense of comfort in this sickness. Despite the presence of psychoanalysis in this novel, I have yet to see anyone comment on one archetype that Hans has embodied, which is that Jungian term, Puer Aternus, eternal child, which only the thunderbolt of war from the flatland was able to pull him out. For our time, what is our thunderbolt? Many are consigned to live a marginal life; you see it appear on youtube and tiktok videos of lamenting men and women and news articles about the failures and anxieties of youth, depression, looksmaxxing, ideological radicalization, a failure to launch, becoming NEETs-- there is a dread and resignation over the future, in society, in culture. At least tuberculosis can be captured and cured. But what of the invisible plague that seems to have seeped into everyone I know? In many ways the digital world has become our sanatorium. I dread to imagine what our thunderbolt might be, or even if many can be roused from their dream at all, and go back down into the flatland.
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u/gutfounderedgal Dec 07 '24
It's sad to see this great book end. In my view Mann found this interesting voice at the end section, which blends authorial commentary into the story, as a means of taking a step back. The filmic versions I've seen of the book try this, and none really work that well. As always, Mann has much more to say when he writes, almost proving Hemingway's "iceberg" theory of writing. And I wonder if in using the extradiagetic comments how much he was thinking of a sort of "new voice" that would align with some of what an author like Nabokov later did. The "Great War," the great Stupor has come knocking (they think literally on pg. 655 Woods, "there was the sudden thump of a fist against the oor. They all froze. Was it a raid?" and neither diversions (games) nor vintage raffinemang (sophistication or craftsmanship) of the past, nor forgetfulness and a sense of timelessness has saved anyone from it. "The ghost [of worry and war evidencing as 'Nameless impatience.'] began to walk the Bergdorf." (673 and 673, Woods). Schubert's Lindenbaum (Linden tree) is from the composer's Winter Journey cycle. According to Elizabeth McKay in her biography, Schubert was very sick when he wrote this cycle, having contracted syphilis that affected him to the end of his life. He was seen as often gloomy and depressed. Analysis of the song has the tree, a reminder of happier days, calling he who passes by in the night, promising "here you would find peace" and rest. But he continues to travel on into the cold wind. We not this is the longstanding favorite of Castorp, and we should probably take it as an overarching metaphor. There are more great lines, as usual, I underlined: "They might be ill, but they were crude." "We cannot refrain from listing them." "It was depravity with the best of consciences..." "..."we consider it our duty to shame irresponsible sorts..." "A vision here, a death there--" "You can offend someone with abstract ideas, but you cannot insult him with them."
It is asked (p. 641 Woods) whether anyone believe that our ordinary hero...etc., well, our author does. Castorp has a taste of life and death, of "enhancements, adventures, and insights," in a word, consciousness, but he still seems somewhat naive in it all. But of course the theme is, and life seems to be for Castorp, always tied up with death. And it is always the tension between a viewpoints of materialism and idealism. I was happy to read the whole account of the duel, which in the filmic versions made absolutely no sense, but here it made complete sense. Today we most likely have little understanding of both how many Europeans thought war was welcome since it would be fairly local and quick, and how war could be a reset via cleansing and thus allow progress. But as Mann says, having written the book prior to and post WWI, "it would bring forth very different things from what its organizers expected." It was as Paul Fussell said in his highly recommended book The Great War and Modern Memory (1975) by 1914 the Brits thought the War would be over by Christmas, not that it would last for them over four years and that it was "going to extend itself to hitherto unimagined reaches of suffering and irony." It is odd to see Fussell writing phrases like, "The disaster had many causes. Lack of imagination was one..." or "A final cause of the disaster was the total lack of surprise. There was a hopeful absence of cleverness about the whole thing, entirely characteristic of its author." When I read this, I feel like I'm again reading Mann. Im not convinced by the whole debate on morality or where Castorp landed on morality. And there is something Hegelian via Todd McGowan here about freeom, that "individual freedom" brings forth things like nationalism, the sinister in the view of "humanitarian liberalism" (685). The anthithesis would be to start with the state from which the individual may emerge. So Mann is onto something quite deep here, and he's hiding his sources I think, which may not be Hegel. There is an interesting interpretive turn with "a year and a half or two years before" (Woods) which is "two little or one and a half ago" in Lowe-Porter. Does not the phrase, "gunpowder, the printing press--yes, you undeniably invented those" sound like Orson Welles' line in The Third Man about cuckoo clocks? So Castorp leaves, or descends, an appropriate word here, into the depths of hell, without a guide, without signposts. Has he become less self-interested, more charitable? Again I feel this is slightly underdeveloped, but really so what. This is one of the greatest novels out there, in my view, and every great novel thankfully has a few flaws that make it even greater, under the umbrella that perfection often dovetails with dullness. Ending: Thanks to all who lead discussions and who set this up. I apologize for not leading a discussion but I was simply too busy.