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Title: The\Holy Sinner by Thomas Mann, H.T. Lowe-Porter ISBN: 0-520-07671-0 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 08 January, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A small, beautifully carved gem by German genius Mann
Comment: You don't have to plow through monster works like "The Magic Mountain" or "Buddenbrooks" to gain an appreciation for the art of Thomas Mann. "The Holy Sinner" is a short novel (for Mann) about the medieval legend of St. Gregory. This is a story of sin and redemption, with the horrors of the sins, incest and unbridled lust, making the redemption all the more spectacular.
The style is elegant, stylishly mocking the medieval archaic German which is well-rendered into a stylized antique English by the talented Mrs. Lowe. The story is as gripping as any soap opera but the artistry with which it is told is exquisite. As usual, Mann blends his story-telling ability with his genius as a writer of ideas. I can hardly think of another writer who comes close to being able to combine a good yarn with incredible style and deep concepts (maybe Melville and Nabokov, perhaps.)
This is a good preparatory book for "Joseph and his Brothers"--a monumental book about the biblical story of Joseph in Egypt.
Rating: 3
Summary: Modern Mythology takes a look at Redemption...
Comment: "The Holy Sinner," on a literal level is a story about a multi-generational incestuous family, and their reconcilliation of their sins. Read as such, "The Holy Sinner" is a disturbing account with a semi-satirical take on the religious rituals of redemption, incest, nepotism and penance.
On a deeper level, "The Holy Sinner" comes forth as a contemporary myth. There is a definite straining in this book for a sense of redemption, forgiveness, and the search for meaning. Ripe with symbolism, and exploring a kind of "less-violent" Oedipal storyline, you can feel Mann's struggle over the contemporary situation in Germany in the late 40s and early 50s.
Though not what I would call a "sequel" to "Doctor Faustus," in the allegorical way you can catch a glimpse of Germany in the pages of "The Holy Sinner," I would nevertheless point out that the theme of "penance and change instead of murder and vengeance" seems very contemporarily bound.
However, the story itself hinges on one coincidence too many, and there are passages that nearly grind to a halt in speed and direction. I did come away from the novel with a new respect for Thomas Mann, but this was not an easy read, and, at times, not even enjoyable. The alliteration and sometimes near-poetry of the writing was in some passages immaculate, and then a few pages later almost clumsy and awkward.
I would consider this book one meant more for study than outright enjoyment, though I did enjoy it more often than I didn't. It was work to finish it, however, and more work to digest and attempt to understand it. If you are in the mood for something serious and allegorical, pick up "The Holy Sinner." But if you're looking for something lighter or entertaining, I'd suggest you pass this one by.
Rating: 4
Summary: A minor work by a major writer
Comment: Thomas Mann (1875-1955), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, is one of the great German writers of the 20th century. His best works rely on an exquisite sense of irony, erudition and multiple layers of meaning to explore some of the burning moral issues of our time. "The Holy Sinner" is one of his last works and was written immediately after what many consider his masterpiece, "Doctor Faustus".
In "The Holy Sinner" Mann retells a medieval legend about the life of Pope Gregory in plush,tongue-in-cheek, bejewelled language reminiscent of knightly chronicles. The translator, H. T. Lowe-Porter, has done an excellent job in translating the romance-like pastiches spoken or written by the different characters --in particular if you have a smattering of French, Latin, Spanish, Catalan, Middle English or Provenzal, you will enjoy these light-hearted and occasional romps. However, as is usual with Mann, the glittering surface-story is not the most interesting one. This book is also a Christianized version of Sophocles' Oedipus tragedies and an optimistic commentary on the possibilties of European reconstruction in the aftermath of the second world war.
Unfortunately I feel the three levels do not resonate with the power you find in his masterpieces ("The Magical Mountain", "Doctor Faustus"). Russell Berman, who wrote the introduction to the book does not agree: "In the Holy Sinner, Thomas Mann unfolds an ornate depiction of the Middle Ages, replete with courtly love and jousting knights, illiterate peasants and papal magnificence. This fascinating setting, which the author embellishes with all his linguistic and confabulatory powers, is equally a backdrop for weighty matters of the mind: religious questions of sin and grace, psychoanalytical inquiries into incestous desire, political investigations into the distribution of power."
If you have never read Thomas Mann, I would recommend you start with his novelette "Death in Venice&quo! t; and then go on to "Doctor Faustus" and "The Magic Mountain". If you have read his masterpieces be warned: this is, in Graham Greene's nomenclature, more of an entertainment than a novel.
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Title: Royal Highness by Thomas Mann, A. Cecil Curtis, Alan Sica ISBN: 0520076737 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: February, 1992 List Price(USD): $29.75 |
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Title: The Black Swan by Thomas Mann, Willard R. Trask ISBN: 0520070097 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: December, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Transposed Heads : A Legend of India by Thomas Mann, H.T. Lowe-Porter ISBN: 0394700864 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 12 September, 1959 List Price(USD): $11.30 |
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Title: Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns by Thomas Mann, H.T. Lowe-Porter ISBN: 0520070070 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: November, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man : The Early Years by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0679739041 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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