Promotional Information

Author won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929

Reviews

A superior new translation of Mann's 1901 saga about four generations of an affluent German family. (July)

The reissue of Mann's wonderful first novel in a new translation is a cause for rejoicing. In loving, ironic, and sympathetic detail, Mann portrays several generations of a merchant family who belong to the bourgeois aristocracy in Lubeck, tracking them from high point to decline. While the author himself helped Lowe-Porter in the authorized English translation (1938), Woods simply has a better ear for dialog and for smoothing Mann's German syntax into a more naturally flowing English one. He is even so bold as to tackle puns that Lowe-Porter pretended weren't there. Highly recommended.-- Michael T. O'Pecko, Towson State Univ., Md.