- Paperback: 706 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (1 Dec 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679772871
- ISBN-13: 978-0679772873
- Product Dimensions: 20.5 x 13.4 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,176,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
This European masterpiece from the Nobel prizewinner explores the lure and degeneracy of ideas in an introverted community on the eve of World War I
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps--a community devoted exclusively to sickness--as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality. The Magic Mountain is a monumental work of erudition and irony, sexual tension and intellectual ferment, a book that pulses with life in the midst of death.
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First Sentence
AN ORDINARY YOUNG MAN was on his way from his hometown of Hamburg to Davos-Platz in the canton of Graubunden. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
AN ORDINARY YOUNG MAN was on his way from his hometown of Hamburg to Davos-Platz in the canton of Graubunden. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Aptly titled book this; it is indeed mountainous - and not just in that it's huge. It is the Everest of books: it's a Herculean task to get try to conquer it but if you do the view is, to follow the metaphor, pretty spectacular. It's also entirely unlike anything I've read in just about any terms - the pace, the style, the narrative and the plot (or lack of it) are all as far as I know unique. Reading it isn't either laborious or fast-paced, I'd call it - in absence of a better word - luxurious; I found myself almost drifting through it, and at times it's no exaggeration to say I just found myself marvelling at the fluid, idea-strewn prose. Whilst it's probably not for the impatient, I still highly, highly reccommend it.
59 of 62 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a book quite unlike any other, and is likely to be a read you remember for the rest of your life, it's that impressive.
One of the most sriking features is the pace, which is very deliberate....and will no doubt frustrate many readers by seeming slow and focussing on what might appear as trivialities. However, it builds into a superb picture not just of the characters but of what they represent. All of pre-WW1 european society is represented along with the preoccupations of that time. As a doctor, i also enjoyed the medical aspects of the book, including the sick role and the power of a paternalistic medical profession.
One of the most sriking features is the pace, which is very deliberate....and will no doubt frustrate many readers by seeming slow and focussing on what might appear as trivialities. However, it builds into a superb picture not just of the characters but of what they represent. All of pre-WW1 european society is represented along with the preoccupations of that time. As a doctor, i also enjoyed the medical aspects of the book, including the sick role and the power of a paternalistic medical profession.
My reasons for ascribing 3 stars are entirely related to the translation by lowe-porter...she herself apologises for the quality of the work in the preface. With a shiny new translation by john woods now available, please consider obtaining that version. I "jumped ship" after reading the first 200 pages of lowe-porter's version and found the woods version so much more enjoyable, the characters have lost their muffled voices.
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not only a gripping story with characters constructed in the finest detail, but also an intense meditation on the passing of time. My eagerness to read the next chapter was constantly in conflict with my desire to pause and think over what I had read so far. Persevere with it - the pace is slow to begin with - because if you like books filled with ideas, you really will be missing out if you don't give it a chance.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
For want of an editor, a great book is spoiled
Agreeable as it is to be finally able to set down such a great tome, having wrung out every gramme of life and - yes, I have often thought it and so I should let it be said -... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Holtman
It sure lives up to its title!
I first read this book at age 14, when I thought I was, like, totally intellectual!!1! Needless to say, the book went whoosh over my inflated head. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Julia Symons
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
At the risk of being labelled a Philistine, I declare that this book is one of the most insufferably boring tomes that has ever made it onto my bedside table. Read more
Published on 22 July 2008 by Lance Mitchell
A beautiful work of art
I've just finished reading The Magic Mountain this morning and I closed it with a smile on my face, having had one of the most rewarding literary experiences of my life. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2008 by Richard J. Cotter
One of my favourite books of all time
Ideal for the reader who wishes to escape from this hectic world into the rarefied atmosphere of a T.B. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2001
Worth reading carefully - some interesting ideas here!
This book fascinates me. I've read it twice and I'm sure I still haven't picked up on all the ideas that are included. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2000
only for some
the reason i am writing this review is that i just read the previous reviews that this book has received and i was as surprised as i was happy. Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2000
German culture indeed
Well, first of all it has to be mentioned, that this book is very German. It is indeed very famous in my country (that does not mean that many persons have read it), which is... Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2000 by joezaun@t-online.de
interesting, but not worth re-reading
This is a novel set in a TB sanatorium in Switzerland prior to World War 1. Mann himself says that his technique of writing novels is based on Wagner's of writing music, so that... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2000
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