Novel
Doctor Faustus
Doktor Faustus
Thomas Mann · 1947
Synopsis
In 1943, Serenus Zeitblom, a professor of classics, sets out to write the life of his childhood friend, the composer Adrian Leverkühn. He recounts their school years in Kaisersaschern, an imaginary town on the banks of the Saale, the theology studies Adrian begins in Halle before joining his music teacher, Wendell Kretzschmar, in Leipzig, and his obstinate search for a new musical language, for which he says he made a pact.
Context
The novel was written in exile, in Pacific Palisades, from May 1943 to January 1947. For the music, Thomas Mann studied treatises and biographies of composers and consulted Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and Hanns Eisler. Schoenberg, who lived nearby, took offence that the hero invents the twelve-tone method, which was his own, and protested publicly; a note added on the last page in later editions acknowledged his authorship of it, without repairing their relationship.
Who it is for
A long novel told by a witness, in which music and its theory hold a central place.
Prizes and reception
Translated three times into English, the last in 2026; Franz Seitz made a film from it for West German television in 1982.