This year marks both the 150th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s birth (June 6, 1875) and the 70th anniversary of his death (August 12, 1955), commemorated in Germany and around the world. Our event takes this occasion as an opportunity to shed light on Thomas Mann’s deep and multifaceted relationship with medicine – both in his personal life and in his literary work.
Themes such as health, illness, dying, and death appear repeatedly throughout Mann’s novellas and novels. As a writer with considerable medical knowledge, Thomas Mann portrayed illness with vivid intensity and from a contemporary perspective. His literary engagement with the finitude of life invites us to reflect on death as an essential condition of human existence – despite all medical progress.
Thomas Mann’s medical history is well documented through his diaries and physician reports. These records reveal how the author, in spite of various ailments, a serious illness, and later a profound physical and emotional fatigue, remained creatively active and productive.
Prof. Dr. phil. Henriette Herwig will explore how illness is portrayed in Mann’s literary work, using selected examples.
Prof. Dr. med. Bernd Schönhofer will present and analyze the medical history of Thomas Mann.