In rivalry with his older brother Heinrich, who sympathized with France and democracy, Thomas Mann turned between 1914 and 1918 to a vision of Germany rooted in the Romanticism of Joseph von Eichendorff, the bourgeois values of Theodor Storm, and the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. His extensive essay Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man (Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen) reflects this orientation. Critical passages, such as those on voting rights and the "civilization writer" Heinrich, were tempered with ironic reservations.
This lecture is part of the series Thomas Mann and German Politics:
July 4: "On the German Republic" – Conservative Support for the Weimar Republic
July 11: "German Address" – A Warning Against National Socialism
July 18: "German Listeners" – Propaganda Against Hitler
July 25: "Germany and the Germans" – A Failed History?
