Thomas Mann's Letters

Recently I finished reading the war years letters of the German novelist, Thomas Mann.

In some ways the letters are like a reality show; they manifest a subtler form of fiction. The persona of the narrator is a major feature of Mann's late novel, Doktor Faustus, but we find a panoply of personae in his letters as well. Friend, colleague, loving father, political activist, professor--all the roles Mann assumed more or sometimes less willingly during his exile in America come to light.

In the end I'm left knowing more of the life roles Thomas Mann chose to play than of the man himself. Thomas Mann's diaries were published 20 years after his death and draw back the curtain a bit further. But for me, I suppose I prefer the glitter of the show more than the reality. The diaries can wait.

This is the second of a three-volume series of letters edited by Mann's daughter: Mann, Thomas, and Erika Mann. Briefe 1937-1947. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 1963.

Serendipity lead me to notice one letter from Thomas Mann to Kuno Fiedler (1895-1973). At that time, Dr. Fiedler was pastor of the same Graubünden parish of St. Antönien that Johann Baptista Cattaneo had served over 150 years earlier.