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| Ludwig Von Hofmann : An die Quelle |
"Et in Arcadia Ego"
Goethe : An Italian Journey
Top of the Mountain !
This chapter is
considered by many critics to be the centre of the book. In time Thomas Mann
would agree and said that he regretted not to have put this chapter at the end
of the Magic Mountain
In the previous chapter,
the two pedagogues Settembrini and Naphta, have given a demonstration of a rhetorically
masterful but pointless debate, unconsciously switching stances and chasing
each other to the extremes of the consequences of their philosophical
positions. Hans and we the reader are left in “great confusion”.
Two things happen in
the chapter “Snow”: Hans is visiting his old friend “Death” again ( the wintry
white landscape symbolizes death, eternity, the dissolution of individuality,
nothingness), getting closer than he ever did before, (the relation becoming
quite personal now) and secondly he is about to come to a summary, a conclusion
of what he has learned; not in words, but in a vision. Had this be the last
chapter, the book would have ( in my opinion ) suffered a lot.
Is it over after this?
Absolutely not, some important and excellent chapters remain to be read. The
dance of death will continue in a cruel way and the “summary” to which Hans
would come in this chapter will have to be reviewed nearly every chapter…
And remember, still we
need to meet one more “major character” to complete the number of 7 teachers of
our friend Hans.
But lets not cut
corners, Snow first !
Winter. Patients of the
Berghof grumble because of the lack of sunshine.
There is a lot of snow
however. Mann’s description of the snowy landscape instil in the reader and the
patients feelings of the “sublime and the holy”.
Frau Solomon is back
from the flatlands. Her stay in the flatlands has worsened her illness and she
is about to die. We fear for others who have gone down too: Joachim and Clawdia
A snowstorm is
described as a “beast”, it is dangerous for you lose your way and you might
even suffocate. Mann has to instruct his readers a bit about extreme weather.
(there is no tv and no
NGS channel yet )
HC rebels against the “Berghof
rules”and purchases a pair of skis anlearns the skill. Settembrini loves this
simple act of rebellion. See how Settembrini compares himself to Mercury with
wings on his ankle ( Hermes ): funny… what an agreeable companion, S is, encouraging
and helping HC.
HC lately longs to be
alone… “It permitted him the solitude he sought, the profoundest solitude
imaginable…”. Is this a new development ?
Nature is described as
dangerous and threatening. HC experiences fear and courage in his solitary
expeditions. Fear is prerequisite of courage.
Near death
Near death
HC sets of on another
lonely trip.
praeterit figura huius
mundi ( Corinthians 7:31)” and those that use the world, as not abusing it: for
the fashion of this world passeth away.
HC takes positions: he
likes Settembrini ( … my pedagogue Satana…)
and prefers him to Naphta ( terrorist, torturer, flogger ). A trick of
light makes him remember Hippe and Clawdia. “Glad to…”
HC is losing his
bearings. Blinded by the whiteness on all sides it even seems he enters the
mountain at a moment. The reader is worried before HC who is acting recklessly…
with some kind of defiance of death. He challenges death? “Fear made him
realise he had secretly and more or less purposely, been trying to lose his
bearings all the time, to forget in what direction…”. Compare this to the very
first chapter, where we had also Hans visiting the world of the death.
“But there is only one
word for what was happening in HC’s soul: defiance”.
Hans is caught up by
the snow storm and experiences the unexpected “wind-chill” danger. ( compared
Death’s scythe )
Not only is he lost,
probably tired but also dangerously under-dressed.
Dangerous things are
happening in his mind:
“…The more physical
part…was inclined to abandon itself to the muddled state threatening to engulf
him as exhaustion grew…
HC compares a life
threatening situation with “illness”. “…familiar blend of languor and
excitement…” “… a merciful self narcosis sets in…” Are we witnessing one more (
final?) turn in Hans “dance of death”? Another step closer to his experience
with death?
Luckily HC realizes
that this numbing “means great harm”
“…The desire, the
temptation to lie down and rest crept into his mind”
“… All he had to do was
to submit to it…” The “it” is the life-denying force. HC “withstood the
temptation..”
Finally he gets cover
from the shed he has already sighted several times during the afternoon.
The shed might safe his
live…
Terror sets finally
in…”What a hell of a state of affairs”
The situation in the
snow-storm wakens up parts of HC’s brain we thought were numbed for ever: He
understands that “…you ran around in a circle…a foolish arc that led back on
itself…a teasing year come full circle…And so you wandered around and never
found your way home”
The experience of time
has slowed down considerably.
Hc mind begins to
fantasize, to hear Settembrini’s horn, to see him as a genuine organ grinder,..
his mind is jumping – horizontal position – impersonal desire to lie down and
sleep –
It is no coincidence that Hans "near dying" plays out in a scenery we recognize from Schubert's famous Lieder cycle "Winterreise". Indeed throughout the song, we follow a lonely figure lost in the snow and about to die. There are many hints to make a link between Mann's text and Schubert's song.
Which specific song we should listen to, I leave to you. Best candidate is "Der Lindenbaum", which will be heard a few times more in the course of the book and which implies an attraction to death. Another candidate is "Im Dorfe", one of Mann's favourites, which he specifically linked to the Magic Mountain in a radio interview in 1954. "Der Leiermann" was already encountered in the Satana chapter...Personally, I would suggest " Erstarrung" and "Frozene Tränen"as the best accompaniment to this important chapter.
But maybe it is best to listen to the complete cycle for the right mood of this chapter.
The Vision
It is no coincidence that Hans "near dying" plays out in a scenery we recognize from Schubert's famous Lieder cycle "Winterreise". Indeed throughout the song, we follow a lonely figure lost in the snow and about to die. There are many hints to make a link between Mann's text and Schubert's song.
Which specific song we should listen to, I leave to you. Best candidate is "Der Lindenbaum", which will be heard a few times more in the course of the book and which implies an attraction to death. Another candidate is "Im Dorfe", one of Mann's favourites, which he specifically linked to the Magic Mountain in a radio interview in 1954. "Der Leiermann" was already encountered in the Satana chapter...Personally, I would suggest " Erstarrung" and "Frozene Tränen"as the best accompaniment to this important chapter.
But maybe it is best to listen to the complete cycle for the right mood of this chapter.
The Vision
From the relative
security of the wooden barn against which he is sheltering, Hans has his
vision. He sees an Arcadian world, a Mediterranean
landscape (the cradle of civilization) – referring to Goethe, Classicism, the
Enlightment, the soil from which Settembrini draws his ideas. It is a happy
scenery with beautiful, healthy people.
There are hints of Clawdia – of love in
this vision – of Hippe and then suddenly his eyes are diverted to another scene
embedded in the happy one. In a more
ancient, archaic Doric (? ) temple a gruelling scene takes place. Two witches
are ripping a child apart and eat it “piece by piece, the brittle bones
cracking in their mouths, blood dripping from their vile lips” The woman curse
him in his own dialect…
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| Puvis de Chavannes. Summer. |
Hans awakens into a
dream – state from his mortal sleep… and ecstatic wonders about the dream. Where
does it come from? What does it mean ?
“We dream anonymously
and communally… the great soul, of which we are just a little piece… , dreams
through us….( Jung ? )
It is our own eternal
secret dream – about youth, its hope, its joy, its peace, and its bloody feast”
The dream is revelation
of the Human condition, the Golden Age pitted against the cruelty of life. There
is a lot of Nietzsche’s “Birth of tragedy” here with its “Olympian Magic
Mountain
Horror is in the middle
of our world, most Modernist writers remind us. Mann’s sunny people do not
intervene in the horror, cannot stop it, are not willing, are not able…they
have to live with it.
And here comes Hans
conclusion : “ Where they ( The sunny people ) charming and courteous to one
another, out of silent regard for that horror? What a fine and gallant
conclusion for them to draw! I shall hold to their side, here in my soul, and
not with Naphta, or for that matter with Settembrini – they’re both windbags”
… in the middle is
where the Homo Dei’s state is found…
And emphasized by Thomas
Mann : “For the sake of goodness and
love, man shall grant death no dominion over his thoughts”
Hans wakes up: My dream
has granted me ( the truth ) so clearly that I will always remember… The
weather changes to the better and Hans returns safely back to the Berghof.
The chapter ends
ironically…
His dream was already
beginning to fade…. He was no longer sure what his thoughts had been…
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| Ludwig von Hofmann : Die Quelle |
Das wichtigste und wertvollste Bild ist ein Ölgemälde des
Malers und Grafikers Ludwig von Hofmann (1861 bis 1945), Die Quelle. Es wurde
um 1913 gemalt und zeigt drei im Urteil Thomas Manns "koloristisch
meisterhaft ausgeführte Jünglingsakte." Hofmanns Bildwelt geistert durch
Hans Castorps Schneetraum, vor allem in der Vision der südlichen Landschaft,
welche "Sonnen- und Meereskinder" bevölkern.
Schon Gerhart Hauptmann, ein anderer Hofmann-Liebhaber,
notierte hierzu am Rand seines Zauberberg-Exemplars: "Das ist ja L. v. H.
ganzes Werk." Hofmanns Bilder umkreisen jene Menschlichkeit, die nicht nur
Castorp, sondern vor allem seinem Autor als Traum vorschwebte.
