In the wake of World War I, Thomas Mann wrote the novel Der Zauberberg (1913-1924), which illustrates a change in the author's conceptions of life, death, disease and Eros. Using intertextual theory, this book reveals the relation between the thought of Novalis, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Freud and the culture depicted in the novel Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- A note on the translations -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Design and intention -- The choice of intertexts -- Der Zauberberg and the work of Novalis, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Freud: An overview of source-critical scholarship -- Models of intertextuality: Text and intertext -- Author, reader, text: The origin of meaning-production -- Chapter 2: Sympathie mit dem Tode: The dominion of death over life -- The social repression of death -- Views of death: Christian versus atheist -- Attitudes towards death -- The affirmation of death and the devaluation of life -- The glorification of death as release -- The synthesis of life and death -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3: Ambiguous affiliations: The stimulus of life and disease -- The nature of life: Receptivity to stimuli -- Stimuli, determinism and heredity -- Health, disease and the organism -- Stimuli, life and disease -- The interrelation of life, Mind and disease -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4: The seeds of war: Disease, decadence and destruction -- The environmental causes of disease -- Lethargy and boredom -- Boredom, time and entertainment -- Entertainment and intoxication -- Irritability and aggression -- The combination of lethargy and irritability -- Conclusion -- Chapter 5: Erotic stimulus, gender and homosexuality -- Life, Eros and aesthetics -- The nature of Eros: Stimuli and the body -- Eros, death and disease -- Pleasure and pain -- Conclusion -- Chapter 6: Decadence and the erotic: The powers of immorality -- Culture versus nature: Morality, Eros and disease -- Civilisation and the diseased body -- Erotic freedom, decadence and gender -- The power of immoral lust and disease over moral life -- Synthesis or mediation? Eros, disease and humanity -- Conclusion Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Primary sources -- Secondary sources -- Index
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