Disorder and Early Love: The Eroticism of Thomas Mann

The Mann biographies published so far have largely sidestepped, belittled, or even distorted crucial aspects of his life and work. In particular, Mann’s eroticism–a homoeroticism that distanced itself from fulfillment and posited romantic yearning as the driving force of all creative activity–formed the lifelong counterpoint to the reality of his status as a husband and father. Influenced by this eros, all of Mann’s writings more or less openly expressed it. The topic influenced his thinking so much that, in a public speech following WW I, he suggested homoeroticism as an appropriate ideological basis for the new German democracy. In this comprehensive exploration of Thomas Mann’s writings–including his journals and his correspondence with family, friends, and writers who influenced him–Dr. Lederer demonstrates that repressed homosexuality permeates all of Mann’s work, and that while never having actually allowed himself a homosexual liaison, he yearned for it all his life.