Abstract:
The semi-autobiographical novel "Der Zauberberg" (The Magic Mountain)
was published in 1924 by Thomas Mann as a "satire" and "humorous byproduct" of his work "Death in Venice". It provides an example, as so often in his novels, of the narrative techniques of the Bildungsroman (novel of
personal development), and may be understood through a variety of
interpretative approaches. In this work Thomas Mann deals intensively with
the concepts of health and illness, and indeed life and death, which are
issues highly relevant to mankind during the Corona pandemic. In the work
the protagonist Hans Castorp, who has just finished his engineering
qualifications, intends to make an educational journey and a three-week
visit to his ill cousin in a Davos sanatorium for patients with lung disease,
but ends up being diagnosed with tuberculosis and staying for seven years.
In this article his observations in the sanatorium are placed in relation to the
present Corona pandemic. An attempt will be made to show that an
understanding of psychoanalysis and the pandemic, as well as of illness and
death, should be the means to self-knowledge. Focusing on Sigmund Freud’s
approach, which assumes that human behaviour cannot be explained
without reference to unconscious processes, the study gives examples from
the novel. It concludes with an appeal that mankind should hold on to life,
in the midst of this unforeseen Corona pandemic, and never give up hope.
