Svetlana N. Averkina, DSc in Philology, Professor of the Department of World Literature, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Malaya Pirogovskaya Street, 1, building 1, 119435, Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8922-679X
This article explores Thomas Mann’s strategy for including autobiographical moments in his works, focusing not on his diaries, correspondence, or essays, but rather on a group of short stories in which the writer appears simultaneously as narrator and protagonist. Particular attention is paid to the cycle Two Idylls (comprising “A Man and His Dog” and the hexametric poem “The Song of the Little Child”, both 1919), as well as to two later stories – “Disorder and Early Sorrow” (1925) and “Mario and the Magician” (1930). These works are frequently considered by scholars as forming a symbolic cycle referred to as Symphonia domestica, a title borrowed from the orchestral composition by R. Strauss, one of Mann’s favorite composers. The aim of this study is to identify the narrative and thematic mechanisms by which private and autobiographical experience is transformed into an artistic and ethical statement. The article examines the ways in which the writer’s personal world – family life, emotional vulnerability and every day rituals – becomes a testing ground for cultural reflection and moral choice. Key methodological approaches include narratological analysis, theories of autobiographical writing, and a contextual reading of the texts within the intellectual and political climate of interwar Europe. The analysis demonstrates that Mann’s turn to intimate and domestic subjects in the early 1920s signifies a crucial moment of self-reflection and ethical repositioning. By foregroun- ding the private sphere, Mann creates a space for humanistic introspection, exploring how ordinary emotional experience – sorrow, joy, loss – can serve as a counterpoint to the rising tide of nationalism and historical upheaval. The stories under consideration mark a transition toward a new phase in Mann’s work, characterized by a commitment to democratic ideals, anti-militarism, and the defense of human dignity. This narrative and ideological shift laid the foundation for the author’s later anti-fascist writings and affirmed literature’s potential to bear witness to spiritual resistance and ethical renewal.
T. Mann; autobiographical beginning; diary; “domestic symphony”; humanism.
25.07.2025
28.08.2025
Averkina, S.N. “Thomas Mann: Personal Territory”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 4(70), 2025, pp. 73–93. (In Russ.)
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