New ebook: Thomas Mann’s sad love for an artist | EUROtoday

Paul Ehrenberg was for Thomas Mann the “center of the world” for 3 or 4 years. At least that is how journalist Oliver Fischer sees it, who has now devoted a ebook to this very particular friendship and love, which marks the beginning of the Thomas Mann Year 2025. The title “You can’t experience love any stronger” takes up a quote from the good author, with whom he as soon as described his emotions for Ehrenberg.

For Thomas Mann, the love went to date that he not solely spent his free time with the younger artist, but additionally immortalized him a number of occasions in his work. The good-looking Ehrenberg is alleged to have impressed the character of the idolized Hans Hansen within the novella “Tonio Kröger”, and he was additionally the mannequin for the engaging blonde violinist Rudi Schwerdtfeger in “Doctor Faustus” and Joseph in Mann’s nice Bible novel.

This exhibits that the love for Ehrenberg adopted the Nobel Prize winner for literature into exile in California lengthy after the tip of this finally sad relationship for him.

Ehrenberg ended “as a local giant in the Saxon province”

Unlike different researchers, Fischer just isn’t solely fascinated about Ehrenberg as a literary mannequin, however he additionally traces his complete biography, which was in stark distinction to the lifetime of Thomas Mann. While the author grew to become wealthy and well-known, the painter’s success progressively petered out.

Although he was initially capable of make a reasonably good dwelling from his animal work, he quickly bumped into monetary difficulties and needed to ask his previous good friend Thommy for assist. After promising beginnings, Ehrenberg ended up “as a local giant in the Saxon province”.

The two Men met in a Munich salon in 1899 when Thomas Mann was writing “Buddenbrooks”. Ehrenberg was attending the Munich Art Academy on the time. The 23-year-old had all the pieces a person lacked – particularly lightness and youthful carefreeness.

Out of affection for him, the considerably stiff author, struggling together with his sexuality, instantly did issues that have been in any other case unusual to him. For instance, he attended rustic farmers’ balls and shallow operas together with his good friend or wrote pompous poems.

Oliver Fischer emphasizes that it was a totally asymmetrical love. On Mann’s half it was clearly an expression of homoerotic affection, however for Ehrenberg it was most likely little greater than a very good friendship. Because Ehrenberg beloved ladies.

Thomas Mann reacts with mental vanity

Mann compensated for his emotional-sexual dependence with a sure mental vanity, describing his lover as a “righteous, untroubled, childlike, a little vain, but unwaveringly loyal comrade.”

Overall, the author seems condescending and never very sympathetic on this relationship that he so praises. In a dedication to the newly revealed “Buddenbrooks,” Thomas Mann known as his good friend a “brave painter,” which he may solely discover derogatory.

The shut friendship between the 2 males ended on the newest with Thomas Mann’s marriage to Katia Pringsheim in 1905, with which he needed to provide himself a middle-class, respectable look as a “normal” man. Ehrenberg additionally married, twice. He doesn’t seem to have had any gay relationships, whereas Thomas Mann continued to really feel drawn to younger males.

Fischer additionally devotes himself to Ehrenberg’s work, a few of that are impressionistically influenced, and describes intimately his keep in an artists’ colony in Wörth, Palatinate. He additionally analyzes Ehrenberg’s political stance, which grew to become more and more nationalistic. In his previous age, the painter got here to phrases with the Nazis.

This is effectively researched, however all in all it’s important to say that Paul Ehrenberg is a considerably bland character. And in fact he would have lengthy since disappeared into the mists of historical past if it hadn’t been for this particular relationship with Thomas Mann.

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