قصة الكتاب :
The Magic Mountain is a book by German author Thomas Mann. It was first published in 1924 in German, titled Der Zauberberg, and is regarded as one of the most influential works of 21st century German literature. The English version of the book was released in 1927. Mann is believed to have started writing the story in 1912 and originally intended for it to be a short narrative. His writing of the book was influenced by the events that occurred in his life and in the backdrop. When he started writing the book, his wife fell ill and was admitted to a hospital in Davos, Switzerland where she spent several months recovering. Mann visited his wife in Davos and got himself acquainted with the place and people; the experience of which inspired his writing. World War I broke out while he was halfway through the story and influenced his writing again. The entire war experience caused him to engage in the re-examination of European society in general. Mann was drawn to explore the answers to general questions related to life, health, illness, sexuality and mortality.
\r\nThe story is about Hans Castorp, the only child of a Hamburg merchant family and a naïve engineer who pays a visit to his ailing cousin Joachim Ziemssen who is admitted at the International Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps. Castorp was orphaned at an early age and by the time he is in his 20s, has made a career in shipbuilding. His visit was initially planned for a couple of weeks but soon stretches into months and years, as Hans himself is diagnosed with tuberculosis that requires treatment at the sanatorium. The stay eventually lasts for seven years, at the end of which World War I breaks out and Hans volunteers. In this story, illness takes centre-stage and drives the plot. Illness is portrayed convincingly by Mann as both a state of mind as well as of the body. The location of the sanatorium high up in the mountains is representative and the reference reappears in several places. Miles away from his regular life in the ‘flat lands’, Hans finds himself in a different world questioning his long-held ideas of honour and morality. The snow in the mountains feels eternal and time itself is a slippery thing in a world of unending rituals, a world where death is the elephant in the room and occurs quietly but surely behind the scenes. Although dealing with a dark and serious subject, the narrative is written with a touch of wry humour, making it both a poignant and delightful read.
\r\nAs many readers and critics note, the book blends realism with several symbolic undertones leaving interpretation open to the readers. Mann was aware of the elusiveness his book presented but wasn’t interested in offering any direct explanation. Almost 25 years after its publication, the only help Mann offered was telling his readers that they may need to read the book twice in order to be able to grasp its message.\r\n