"Hingabe zusammen mit Erkenntnis" : Thomas Mann's "Wagnererlebnis" reflected in the early novellen

Abstract

There are several difficulties involved in the study of Thomas Mann's treatment of Wagner, not the least of which is the huge mass of both primary and secondary material: it soon becomes apparent that one has to restrict oneself to a particular field in order to make the topic manageable. In this essay I have limited myself to the Novellen which appeared between 1897 and 1912. During the preliminary research, however, it became clear that a few elucidatory glances at the novel Buddenbrooks (1901) would also be necessary because of the obvious links with the Novellen of that period, but the principal stress has nonetheless remained on the Novellen. I am aware that Mann's interest in Wagner continued to manifest itself in such later novels as Der Zauberberg and Doktor Faustus; however, a full discussion of these works would not be practicable within the scope of this essay. On the other hand, I have quoted from Mann's later theoretical writings on Wagner, as the basic objective of the essay is to show that the ambivalence toward Wagner indicated in Mann's later critical works is in fact present in the early stories also.