“Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.” Early Life and Upbringing The novel begins with Felix Krull recounting his childhood in […]
German literature
Doctor Faustus
“For beauty, my dear friend, is not so much a quality of the object itself as an effect in him who beholds it.” Prelude The novel begins with […]
German literature
Buddenbrooks
“And the business—the firm—the shop!” he cried. “It is all nothing—dust and ashes—if the family goes to pieces!” Part One: The Buddenbrook Family The novel opens in 1835 […]
German literature
Death in Venice
“He was driven by a desire to travel, but not just any travel—he sought something foreign and distant, a place where the extraordinary would shake him from the […]
German literature
The Magic Mountain
“Time is a gift, but a dangerous one.” The Magic Mountain follows Hans Castorp, a young German engineer, who visits his cousin Joachim Ziemssen at a tuberculosis sanatorium […]