Please let us know what you’ve read this week, what you've finished up, and any recommendations or recommendation requests! Please provide more than just a list of novels; we would like your thoughts as to what you've been reading.

Posts which simply name a novel and provide no thoughts will be deleted going forward.

Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.

Weekly Updates: N/A

This week’s reading is the first half of Chapter 5: Eternal Soup and Sudden Clarity - Humanoria (pp 180-263 J.E. Woods version).

Hi all, Last week's questions were fun to consider and I really enjoyed the insights everyone contributed. As this week's volunteer, I offer a brief overview, analysis, plus a couple guiding questions. Feel free to answer some or all, or just write about your own impressions.  

***

Overview

Hans was scheduled to descend to the flatlands until his life took a predictable turn. He transformed from visitor to patient, having caught a nasty cold that elevated his temperature. He heeded Dr Behrens’ prescribed 4 weeks of bedrest by dutifully keeeping a record of his temperature, receiving visits from hospital staff, and behaving as a real patient should. While convalescing, cousin Joachim stopped by to report on Dr. Krokowski’s follow up lecture on love. Hans psychosomatically attributed love’s chemical properties as his own symptoms. While Hans didn’t fully articulate his suffering as love sickness, his flushed complexion and pounding heart made comical and noteworthy impressions on his daily temperature readings.

Time passes. An “inelastic present” (181). Hans returns to the regular sanatorium routine with renewed vigor. He writes to family to send him his winter things, along with more cigars and money. He purchases a fur lined sleeping bag in preparation for his winter naps that are essential to ‘horizontal life.’ An x-ray examination exposes suspicious strands and moist spots. Hans carries the glass x-ray plate in his jacket, to which Settembrini refers as a passport or membership card. Hans and Joachim visit Dr Behrens’ residence after Hans learns Behrens is an amateur painter whom Mme Chauchat sat for her portrait no less than twenty times. Hans extracts information from Behrens, now his rival, about their shared interests in Chauchat. Their conversation is rife with sexual innuendo as they speak about painting and anatomy. 

Analysis

We saw it coming. Last week Hans proved he wasn’t much of a tourist. He adhered to the rest cures and the one time he lapsed by taking a walk on his own he conveniently caught a cold. Now, as a full-fledged patient we see he’s a devotee to illness. Rather than admit his sophomoric crush on Chauchat, Hans manipulated events, at the cost of his health, to be near her. He soon discovers he’s in love and doesn’t mind that others know. Everyone around him sees the contradictions of Hans’ struggle between his Dionysian attraction to Chauchat and his ordered way of living according to the Apollonian tradition, a tradition that is represented by Settembrini. We watch the Dionysian side take hold as Hans rails against authority: he refutes Settembrini’s rationalism by clever, cheeky rebuttal; he manipulates Dr Behrens with false flattery; he ingratiates himself with other patients to make himself at home; and he adopts Mme Chauchat’s slack posture--he relishes the sensation of a body in recline. Hans ruminates on the themes of time, death, decay, eroticism, and bisexuality with the help of rich references to music (Wagner), literature (Faust), mythology (Ancient Greek and German), humanism and science. The presence of symbols (botanicals, design motifs) further enrich this young, mediocre hero's environment and cultural experience.

Discussion Suggestions

1. Mann opens chapter five by direct address to the reader. “And now we have a new phenomenon–about which the narrator would do well to express his own amazement, if only to prevent readers from being all too amazed on their own.” What has Mann achieved by this opening?
2. This novel has a satirical tone. Humor and innuendo are rampant. There are several comical scenes. What were your favorites and why?
3. Humaniora, a chapter subtitle, refers to the medieval study of seven liberal arts, namely  grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Mann’s version of humaniora looks upon the whole of life as a portrait of art. What do you think of his overarching messages thus far? 

Next week: Finish Chapter 5 - Research-Walpurgis Night (pp 26-343) with u/Ambergris_U_Me 

Please let us know what you’ve read this week, what you've finished up, and any recommendations or recommendation requests! Please provide more than just a list of novels; we would like your thoughts as to what you've been reading.

Posts which simply name a novel and provide no thoughts will be deleted going forward.

Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.

Weekly Updates: N/A

Hi. I'm this week's volunteer for the read-along of The Magic Mountain, Chapter 4.

There's a lot to explore here, but I tried to boil it down to a dozen questions/prompts. I'm using the John E. Woods translation, and the page numbers referenced below are from a Kindle, so your mileage may vary.

What did you think? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

1. It’s Hans Castorp’s third day, but it seems much longer to him (“... for who knows how long.” pg 103). Did it feel longer to you? Is time being manipulated? But they should have paid more careful attention to time during those three weeks. (pg 159)

2. Time, is it fungible? Does it speed up and slow down?

3. Hans Castorp makes an observation about the “overseers’ economic interests” corresponding to the “veneration” and adherence of some rules but not others. Any thoughts on that? A tale as old as time? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

4. Settembrini and Hans Castorp have a conversation about the veneration of illness. Later there’s “a lecture about love” (pg 123) where illness is proclaimed to be “merely transformed love.” (pg 126) Thoughts on this? Have you experienced or witnessed this in your own life?

5. Speaking of love, both Hans Castorp and Joachim seem to be falling for certain ladies. Thoughts?

6. What do you think the connection between Pribislav and Frau Chauchat is?

7. Settimbrini says his “distaste for music is political.” Thoughts on this comment as well as any other Settembrini quotes. He is like “fresh hot buns” after all, according to Hans Castorp. I could be wrong, but maybe this means he has lots of good quotes.

8. Wrapping oneself in blankets. Let’s be honest, did you try it? How’d it go?

9. There are a lot of references to people moving with their heads/bodies thrust forward. Theories or thoughts on the meaning of that?

10. Hans Castorp seems to begin thinking he has a dream self and an awake self. How do you think this will play out in the rest of the novel?

11. We return to Hans Castorp’s memory of the golden baptismal bowl as two grandfathers are compared. Thoughts on this section, particularly the rights and privileges of the two grandfathers?

12. Thoughts on how this chapter ends? Did you see that coming? Any suspicions?

I'm really enjoying this book, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in it.

Thanks!

The full schedule can be found here.

*** Next Up: Week 4/ November 2, 2024 / Volunteer: u/Thrillamuse

Please let us know what you’ve read this week, what you've finished up, and any recommendations or recommendation requests! Please provide more than just a list of novels; we would like your thoughts as to what you've been reading.

Posts which simply name a novel and provide no thoughts will be deleted going forward.

Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.

Weekly Updates: N/A

Hi all! This week's section for the read along included Chapters 1-3.

So, what did you think? Any interpretations yet? Are you enjoying it?

Feel free to post your own analyses (long or short), questions, thoughts on the themes, or just brief comments below!

Thanks!

The whole schedule is over on our first post, so you can check that out for whatever is coming up. But as for next week:

**Next Up: Week 3 / October 26, 2024 / Chapter 4 / Volunteer: u/Fweenci

Please let us know what you’ve read this week, what you've finished up, and any recommendations or recommendation requests! Please provide more than just a list of novels; we would like your thoughts as to what you've been reading.

Posts which simply name a novel and provide no thoughts will be deleted going forward.

Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.

Weekly Updates: N/A

Hi all, and welcome to our Introductory post for our read-along of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain.

Some general questions:

• What do you know about the author?
• Have you read them before? If so, what have you read?
• Have you read this work before?
• Is there something (a theme or otherwise) that new readers should keep an eye out for?
• Or, anything else you may think of!

Feel free to start reading! By next Saturday, you should read Chapters 1-3!

And remember, we are moving back to the volunteer posts, so look out for our first read-along post by u/Winterfist79.

READING SCHEDULE