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Article: Thomas Mann: Eine Biographie.
- Article from:
- World Literature Today
- Article date:
- September 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Any 2,000-page-plus biography of an internationally acclaimed twentieth-century writer of lasting fame and of an ever-increasing amount of secondary literature commands the utmost respect. The biographer must display a firm grasp on one hundred years of major European events and developments, of political, intellectual, and literary currents and crosscurrents, of the impact of major public figures and the oeuvres of many writers, above all that of the author under investigation - in this case Thomas Mann. The erudition required for such an intellectual challenge and the skill required for compiling, collating, and structuring the vast quantity of material can hardly be ...