Doktor Faustus

Doktor Faustus is a German novel written by Thomas Mann, begun in 1943 and published in 1947 as Doktor Faustus. Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde.

Structure

Doktor Faustus consists of a vast array of characters, fables, world events, theories, memories, ideas, and places, sometimes directly and sometimes tangentially linked to the story of Adrian Leverkühn's life.

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For this novel, Mann studied musicology and biographies of major composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Hugo Wolf und Alban Berg, but also philosophers as Nietzsche. He contacted contemporary composers like Igor Strawinsky, Arnold Schönberg, and Hanns Eisler for further details. But the most important and direct contribution came from the philosopher and music critic Theodor Adorno. Thomas Mann himself aknowledges that in his book 'The Genesis of 'Doctor Faustus' (1949), where he refers that some observations from Adorno made him rewrite whole parts of the book. Other people made contact with the book too during his writing, as Mann read regularly chapters to groups of friends he invited, a 'technique' also used by Kafka, in order to test the impact of the text.

Related Topics:
Mozart - Beethoven - Berlioz - Hugo Wolf - Alban Berg - Nietzsche - Igor Strawinsky - Arnold Schönberg - Hanns Eisler - Theodor Adorno - Kafka

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A single narrator, Serenus Zeitblom, threads these items together to the best of his ability and energy. Mann: "Zeitblom is a parody of myself. Adrian's mood is closer to my own than one might -- and ought to -- think.?

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