BROTHERS MANN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. FRAGMENTS OF THEIR BIOGRAPHY THE WRITERS PREFERRED TO FORGET

Abstract

The article deals with the little examined period in the life and work of Thomas and Henry Mann, when, from 1895 up to 1896, Henry was editor-in-chief, and Thomas  one of the authors, of the blatantly anti-Semitic journal The Twentieth Century. For the first time in the Russian studies of the writers, the article reveals a compendium of their articles that appeared in that journal. They make it clear that, during the time the two authors worked for the journal, they were under a powerful influence of the nationalistic ‘voelkisch’ ideology, a precursor to National Socialism. The researcher points out the specifics of the brothers’ attitude towards the Jewish world. While Thomas’ articles are not infused with the kind of aggressive anti-Semitism of his brother’s works, they still make a noticeable use of anti-Semitic stereotypes, evidence of his negative perception of Jews. The paper also follows the evolution of the two brothers’ views of the ‘Jewish problem’. Whereas Henry gave up his aggressive anti-Semitism rather easily and moved on to a sympathetic depiction of Jews in the early 1900s, Thomas’ works show little change as far as the Jewish theme is concerned. Thomas Mann, on the other hand, believed that literature and politics were dimensionally separated; but what proved advantageous in terms of artistic quality resulted in a flawed interpretation of the Jewish theme.