Thomas Mann was a German writer and Nobel laureate known for his novels and novellas, including Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain. He was born in Lübeck in 1875 and attended the University of Munich before beginning his writing career. Mann married Katia Pringsheim in 1905 and had six children. When Hitler came to power, Mann and his family fled to Switzerland and later the United States, where he taught at Princeton University. He became a US citizen in 1944 and moved to Switzerland in 1952. Mann passed away in 1955.
Thomas Mann was a 20th century German writer and Nobel laureate. He has written many classics of world literature, including the novellas Death in Venice and Tristan and novels such as The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus. His long, elegant sentences make for somewhat difficult but rewarding reading, and his psychological and political themes resonate with many readers.
Thomas Mann was born in Lübeck, Germany, the setting of his first novel, Buddenbrooks, on June 6, 1875. His father was a senator and grain merchant from a Lübeck family, and his mother was a Creole woman born in Brazil. In 1891, Mann’s father died and the family moved to Munich. Mann attended the University of Munich, studying art history, economics, history and literature in preparation for a career as a journalist. However, he wasn’t cut out for formal education.
Before starting his writing career, Thomas Mann spent a year in Italy with his older brother Heinrich, also a writer, and spent another year working for the South German fire insurance company. Shortly thereafter he began writing for the Simplicissimus magazine. His first short story, “Little Herr Friedman,” was published in 1898. His first novel, Buddenbrookks, largely based on his family and hometown, appeared in 1901.
In 1905, Thomas Mann married Katia Pringsheim, daughter of prominent Jewish intellectuals; the couple went on to have six children. Mann continued to write brilliant and popular novels and short stories and was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in literature. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Thomas and Katia were on vacation in Switzerland and, at the urging of their eldest son Klaus, did not return to Germany. In the early days of the Nazi Party, Mann had been vocal against them, speaking publicly in Berlin against their policy and publishing numerous essays on the subject. During the Third Reich, Mann’s books were among those burned by the Nazis, and his honorary doctorate was revoked by the University of Bonn, though later reinstated in 1946.
Mann never returned to Germany as a resident and moved to the United States with his family in 1939. He taught at Princeton University and moved to Pacific Palisades California in 1942. Two years later he became a US citizen and continued to reside in California until 1952, when he moved to Switzerland. In 1949, Mann visited Germany to attend Goethe’s 200th birthday celebrations, one of his major influences as a writer. On this occasion he was also awarded two Goethe Prizes.
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