Culture Column “Shkoyach!”: Bestsellers Are a Waste of Time
Sanary-sur-Mer, France – โฃ A recent โbiography of Thomas โMann, When โthe Sun โขGoes โDown. โFamily Man in sanary by Florian Illies, has sparked debate about the author’s approach to a well-trodden subject. While the book aims to illuminate the dilemma faced by Mann – balancing artistic integrity with the desire for publication during the rise of Nazism – a reviewerโฃ finds Illies’ style overlyโค chattyโ and lacking in fresh insight.
The reviewer notes the past anxieties surrounding Mann’s 1933 summer exile in Sanary-sur-Mer, โspecifically his panic over diaries left in Munich (later burned in California) and his initial reluctance to publicly denounce the Nazi regime due to his desire to see the first volume of โค Joseph and his Brothers published in Germany that same year. These details, the reviewer concedes, mightโ potentially be familiar to literary scholars.
Tho, Illies successfully conveys the broader tension between moral principle and โฃprofessional ambition that โฃultimately lead Mann to commit to โคemigration in 1936.The reviewer contrastsโข Illies’ approach with Marianne Krรผll‘s 1991 psychoanalytic biography, in the Magician’s Web. Another Story of the Mann Family, which focused on Klaus Mann’s suicide. While acknowledging Krรผll’s work wasn’t entirely convincing, the reviewer โขfinds Illies’ โnarrative to discursive, citing lengthy exchanges about the weather in Sanary as an example of unnecessary โฃdetail.
Further criticism centers on Illies’ lack of newโค perspectives on Katia Mann’s Jewishโ roots, a topic previously explored by Viola Roggenkamp in her โ2005 Erika Mann biography.The reviewer also points โขout a minor inaccuracy regarding Katia Mann’sโค grandmother, Hedwig โฃdohm.
Ultimately, the reviewer suggests readers bypass the biography and return directly to Mann’s ownโ works. Quoting passages from Tonio Krรถger and Difficult Hour, the piece champions the enduring power of Mann’s prose and argues โฃthat engaging with the source material is a more rewarding experience than consuming a contemporary bestseller. The column concludes with a pointed recommendation: “Read Thomas Mann!”
