Thomas Manns ‘Betrachtungen Eines Unpolitischen’ Nach 100 Jahren: Neue Perspektiven Und Kontexte

Thomas Mann’s Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen is a text which is rather unpopular with literary scholars for manifold reasons: The zealous war apology is rather incongrous with the author’s image as a significant opponent of National Socialism drawn by many researchers; and the intertextual references, which are difficult to reconstruct today, render understanding the text exacting. Then as now, it poses considerable challenges to its readers with regard to its prerequisites as well as its content and formal formations. This accounts for the fact that a differentiated analysis and interpretation of the central contents, form and contexts is still lacking, even 100 years after the publication of the Betrachtungen. This volume, which goes back to a conference held in September 2018 at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich, attempts to close this gap in an interdisciplinary cooperation of literary scholars, political philosophers and political scientists.