Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie [Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family]

Hannelore G. Mundt (University of Wyoming)
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Thomas Mann was only twenty-two years old when he began writing his first novel,

Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie

[

Buddenbrooks: Decline of a Family

], in October 1897. The work was completed in July of 1900 and published in October 1901. From the start Mann’s ambitions were set high. He wanted to write “a society novel disguised as a family saga” in the tradition of the great nineteenth-century European social novels, such as

Renée Mauperin

(1864) by the Goncourt brothers, Stendhal’s

Le Rouge et le noir

[

The Red and the Black,

1830], and Theodor Fontanes

Die Poggenpuhls

[

The Poggenpuhls

,1896]. Furthermore, he wanted to surpass the literary fame of his older brother Heinrich, whose first novel

In einer Familie

[

In a Family

, 1894] was well-received and whose second novel about…

2452 words

Citation: Mundt, Hannelore G.. "Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11461, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11461 Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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