Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family

"Life was harsh: and business, with its ruthless unsentimentality, was an epitome of life." (Buddenbrooks, p.363)

Had I been told that an objective, even detached depiction of the downfall of a merchant family in a North-German town in the nineteenth century would shake me they way Buddenbrooks has shaken me, I wouldn't have believed it possible. But what I find most impacting is that even though I was prepared to witness the much forewarned decline of this family I was swept away completely all the same by the pragmatic but intense tone of the narrative which stirred unintended, troubled feelings in me.
Told in an omniscient, impartial voice and taking for background the first symptoms of major social and economic changes in Germany on show more its way into 20th Century modernity and uncertainty, Mann opens the narration with an opulent banquet in 1835 where the three generation of Buddendbrooks are celebrating their social and economic prominence and future prospects. Mann describes their world in detail and masterly pictures the characters with all their hopes, fears and ambitions, all this in a brilliantly flowing language.
The story mainly follows two of the children: Thomas, the crown prince who has been prepared to take over the firm and to become the future ruling man in the family, and his beautiful sister Antoine, a spoiled, naive creature with bourgeois airs but good-natured heart who will see her life expectations vanish and her dreams disappear as years go by.
While Thomas embodies the vitality, strength and vigor of a prosperous, responsible merchant of the time, his hypochondriac, indolent brother Christian and eventually Thomas’ introverted and frail son, Hanno, fail their merchant inheritance in allowing their artistic vocation to prevail over their duty to the firm, condemning the Buddenbrook name into oblivion.
In this sense, Mann sets the tone for some themes in his forthcoming works, one of them being the refined and sophisticated artistic attitude opposed to the simple, healthy and pragmatic life of a merchant family, a poignant subject in this novel and one which could also have reminiscences of his own personal experience.

Although Mann treats his characters lovingly he always keeps in an ironic distance which reminds the reader that the fate of the Buddenbrooks is a sealed one and that, like in life, eventual decay and ultimate death can’t be prevented. And this natural cycle of ups and downs both of the firm and the family, for they are bound together, is precisely what makes possible that a naturalistic story such as this one could reach one’s soul and fill it with wonder with its delicate and effortless language.

In the end, nothing is left, no grand house, no flourishing firm, no prominent family. The Buddenbrooks sink back into meaninglessness. Only an old volume with the genealogy of the whole family remains, echo of a long gone world and the only proof of what once was and never will be again.
But with the end comes freedom.

"Was not every human being a mistake and a blunder? Was he not in painful arrest from the hour of his birth? Prison, prison, bonds and limitations everywhere! The human being stares hopelessly through the barred window of his personality at the high walls of outward circumstances, till Death and calls him home to freedom!" (p.506) show less

Buddenbrooks was written by Thomas Mann when he was only 25 years old, but this reads as the work of a much older and more experienced writer. Buddenbrooks explores four generations of the Buddenbrooks family, a family that has everything going for it at the beginning of the book and declines through the 731 pages of this novel. The 19th century German family experiences business set backs, divorces, ill health, and death, all of which contribute to their demise. The family values itself very highly and refuses initially to see the problems occurring, instead relying on their pride in family to carry them along.

I loved this book. The detail of characterization and the exploration of family history were fantastic. I also loved the show more themes of entitlement vs. work ethic - sometimes both hard work and a sense of entitlement being balanced in one character, sometimes in contrasting characters. I haven't read much German literature, but I've read a lot of family epics from this general era. This differed in the specifics of money that were always present and the decline of all parts of the family - no one in the family is really successful here. Despite the decline of the family, and the multiple deaths (which by the way are written very convincingly - hit a little too close to home for me), it isn't an unrelentingly dark novel. I found it very readable and captivating. Definitely a 5 star read. show less

(For once, this review contains both the original German version which is followed by an English translation.)

Mit Ausnahme einiger Phasen habe ich immer viel und sehr gemischt durch alle Genres gelesen. Da bleibt es nicht aus, daß von nahezu unerträglichem Mist über Durchschnitts-”Kost” so ziemlich alles dabei war. Ganz selten jedoch hatte ich so etwas wie literarische “Erweckungsmomente”. Thomas Manns “Buddenbrooks” war ein solches.

Erschienen 1901 als Mann gerade einmal 26 Jahre alt war, hat “Buddenbrooks” seinen Weltruhm begründet und ihm 1929 den Nobelpreis für Literatur eingebracht, weil das Werk "im Lauf der Jahre eine immer mehr sich festigende Anerkennung als ein klassisches Werk der zeitgenössichen show more Literatur gewonnen hat.”

Daran hat sich zumindest für mich auch nichts geändert, denn obschon “Buddenbrooks” den Niedergang einer spezifischen Familie im Lübeck des 19. Jahrhunderts schildert, so hat es doch in seinen Grundlagen nichts an Aktualität und Wahrhaftigkeit eingebüßt.

Mann erzählt die Geschichte von vier Generationen der hanseatischen Kaufmannsfamilie Buddenbrook von 1835 bis 1877 mit großer Liebe zum Detail und psychologischem Feingefühl. Als stummer Zeuge taucht der Leser tief in das Leben der Protagonisten ein, ohne dass dies jemals voyeuristisch wirkt. Vielmehr kann man sich den Buddenbrooks kaum entziehen - jede Generation und jedes einzelne Familienmitglied überzeugt durch Komplexität und charakterliche Tiefe.

Die Figuren sind so lebendig und vielschichtig, dass sie mich nicht mehr losgelassen haben. Egal ob der materialistische Johann, der schroffe Thomas oder die ewig kränkliche Klothilde - ich habe jede einzelne Person in ihrer Komplexität verstanden und mich zugleich über und mit ihnen geärgert, gefreut, und musste gefühlt auch schon mal mit ihnen “auf den Steinen sitzen”...

Mann beschreibt sowohl die privaten als auch die geschäftlichen Beziehungen innerhalb der Familie und gibt dabei Einblicke in die gesellschaftlichen Strukturen und Normen des 19. Jahrhunderts.

Die eben bereits angesprochene Charakterisierung der Figuren ist ein wesentliches Element des Romans, und Mann gelingt es hervorragend, die verschiedenen Persönlichkeiten, Träume, Ängste und Hoffnungen der Familienmitglieder lebendig werden zu lassen. Mein persönlicher Lieblingscharakter ist Thomas Buddenbrook; ein intelligenter und zielstrebiger Geschäftsmann, der versucht, das Familienunternehmen zu erhalten und gleichzeitig ein erfülltes Privatleben zu führen. Sein innerer Konflikt, seine Ängste und seine unbedingte Loyalität zur Familie haben mich zutiefst beeindruckt - und sein persönlicher Verfall sowie sein Tod (nach einem Zahnarztbesuch - sehr nachvollziehbar für mich!) haben mich betroffen gemacht.

Ein weiterer bemerkenswerter Charakter ist Tony Buddenbrook, die lebhafte und entschlossene Tochter des Hauses. Ihre gescheiterten Ehen und das schwierige Verhältnis zu ihrem Bruder Thomas sind zentrale Themen des Romans. Die Art und Weise, wie Mann ihre Entwicklung von einer jungen, unbeschwerten Frau zu einer gebrochenen, aber dennoch starken Persönlichkeit darstellt, ist beeindruckend.

Die Sprache des Romans ist ebenso fesselnd wie die Handlung; zugleich kunstvoll und verständlich, voller Anspielungen und Zwischentöne, auf eine sehr poetische Art und Weise. Dabei ist die Sprache jedoch nie verschwurbelt oder schwer verständlich, sondern immer klar und präzise. Manns Stil ist reich an Bildern und Symbolen, die den Leser in die Welt des 19. Jahrhunderts entführen. Er macht aus den alltäglichen Vorgängen eine große Literatur. Seine präzisen Beschreibungen der Orte, an denen die Handlung stattfindet, lassen das Lübeck dieser Zeit lebendig werden. Auch die Dialoge sind authentisch und lebendig gestaltet, sodass man sich als Leser direkt in die Gespräche der Charaktere hineinversetzt fühlt.

Selten habe ich einen Roman gelesen, der auf so meisterhafte Weise literarische Qualität mit breiter Wirkung vereint.

Ein weiteres Highlight des Romans ist die Einbettung historischer Ereignisse und politischer Entwicklungen in die Erzählung. Mann zeigt, wie die gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen und die wirtschaftlichen Herausforderungen des 19. Jahrhunderts das Schicksal der Familie Buddenbrook beeinflussen und zum Niedergang des einst erfolgreichen Kaufmannshauses beitragen. Dabei werden Themen wie der Aufstieg des Bürgertums, die Industrialisierung und der Einfluss der Kirche auf die Gesellschaft behandelt. Diese Themenvielfalt macht den Roman zu einem wichtigen Zeitdokument und zeigt, wie eng miteinander verwoben das Leben der Menschen und die Gesellschaft sind.

Am Ende des Romans bleibt angesichts des Niedergangs der Familie, die nun nur noch in der Erinnerung der Leser weiterlebt, ein Gefühl von Wehmut zurück. Dieser Roman, so mein Gefühl, läßt mich wohl nie mehr los: Ich habe ihn mehrfach gelesen, ich habe das grandiose Hörbuch, gelesen vom unvergleichlichen Gert Westphal, oft auf langen Autofahrten gehört und alle Verfilmungen gesehen (keine war schlecht, keine hat mich vollständig überzeugt).

In Lübeck habe ich mir mit meiner Frau zusammen die Handlungsorte, insbesondere das Buddenbrookhaus in der Mengstraße 4, angesehen und das auch im Roman erwähnte Niederegger Marzipan genossen.

"Buddenbrooks" ist ein monumentales Meisterwerk von zeitloser Gültigkeit und Thomas Mann ein Autor von formativer Bedeutung, dessen Meisterschaft ich jederzeit wieder neu entdecken möchte.

Fünf von fünf Sternen.

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Except for some periods, I have always read a lot and very mixed across all genres. So it's inevitable that there was pretty much everything from almost unbearable rubbish to average reading experiences. However, I rarely experienced something like literary "awakening moments". Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks" was one such moment.

Published in 1901 when Mann was only 26 years old, "Buddenbrooks" established his world fame and earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, because the work "over the years has gained an increasingly firm recognition as a classic work of contemporary literature."

At least for me, that has not changed, because although "Buddenbrooks" portrays the decline of a specific family in 19th century Lübeck, it has lost nothing of its fundamental topicality and truthfulness.

Mann tells the story of four generations of the Hanseatic merchant family Buddenbrook from 1835 to 1877 with great attention to detail and psychological sensitivity. As a silent witness, the reader dives deeply into the lives of the protagonists without ever seeming voyeuristic. Rather, one can hardly resist the Buddenbrooks - every generation and every individual family member convinces with complexity and character depth.

The characters are so vivid and multifaceted that they never let go of me. Whether the materialistic Johann, the gruff Thomas, or the perpetually sickly Klothilde - I understood each individual person in their complexity and at the same time, was irritated, delighted, and sometimes felt like I was sitting with them "on the stones"...

Mann describes both the private and business relationships within the family, providing insights into the social structures and norms of the 19th century.

The characterization of the characters already mentioned is a crucial element of the novel, and Mann succeeds excellently in bringing the different personalities, dreams, fears, and hopes of the family members to life. My personal favourite character is Thomas Buddenbrook; an intelligent and ambitious businessman who tries to maintain the family business while leading a fulfilling private life. His inner conflict, his fears, and his unconditional loyalty to the family impressed me deeply - and his personal decline and death (after a visit to the dentist - very relatable for me!) left me touched.

Another notable character is Tony Buddenbrook, the lively and determined daughter of the house. Her failed marriages and difficult relationship with her brother Thomas are central themes of the novel. The way Mann portrays her development from a young, carefree woman to a broken but still strong personality is impressive.

The language of the novel is as captivating as the plot; both artistic and understandable, full of allusions and nuances, in a very poetic way. However, the language is never convoluted or difficult to understand but always clear and precise. Mann's style is rich in images and symbols that transport the reader into the world of the 19th century. He turns everyday occurrences into great literature. His precise descriptions of the places where the action takes place bring the Lübeck of that time to life. The dialogues are also authentic and vividly designed, so that as a reader, one feels directly transported into the conversations of the characters.

Rarely have I read a novel that so masterfully combines literary quality with broad impact.

Another highlight of the novel is the integration of historical events and political developments into the narrative. Mann demonstrates how the societal changes and economic challenges of the 19th century influence the fate of the Buddenbrook family and contribute to the decline of their once successful mercantile house. Topics such as the rise of the bourgeoisie, industrialization, and the influence of the church on society are explored. This variety of themes makes the novel an important historical document and shows how intertwined the lives of people and society are.

At the end of the novel, in the face of the family's decline, which now only lives on in the memory of readers, a feeling of melancholy remains. This novel, in my opinion, will never let me go: I have read it multiple times, I have listened to the magnificent audiobook, read by the incomparable Gert Westphal, on long car journeys, and seen all the film adaptations (none were bad, none fully convinced me).

In Lübeck, my wife and I visited the locations of the plot, especially the Buddenbrook house on Mengstraße 4, and enjoyed the Niederegger marzipan mentioned in the novel.

"Buddenbrooks" is a monumental masterpiece of timeless relevance, and Thomas Mann is an author of formative significance, whose mastery I would like to rediscover at any time.

Five out of five stars.

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There’s an adage quoted in Buddenbrooks that says, “When the house is finished, death follows.” This chronicle of the decline of a middle-class German family is about what happens after you get what you want, after success—after the house is finished. What happens of course, contrary to the adage, is life. But life is not static, not a record of achievements preserved in amber; it is constant confrontation with imperfection and things left undone. To think otherwise is to permit the forces of entropy to proceed unchecked. Death follows the Buddenbrooks's successes, ultimately, because they can't reconcile themselves to change.

Definitely one of the great novels, but it takes a long time before you really see where it's taking you. Mann feeds you an enormous quantity of fine detail about bourgeois life, business practices, and values in Lübeck in the second half of the 19th century, until you feel you could have a stab at buying and selling corn yourself, or you start to think that you're stuck in a Zola novel where — inexplicably — no-one has yet gone mad and committed a violent crime. But then in the last hundred pages we get Thomas Buddenbrooks's Schopenhauer epiphany and Hanno's day at school, and suddenly the sane, orderly realism of the preceding chapters is destabilised and you're forced to look back at them from a very 20th-century perspective. show more Quite a different sort of reading experience from the in-your-face philosophical debate of late Mann, and quite a different style of writing too, but extremely rewarding. show less

Buddenbrooks.

The name alone conjures up richness, grandeur, and decay. A sense of history pummelling us into submission, and of small moments lodged alongside great ones. I'm not as well-read in Mann as I should be (he seems, these days, to be one of the shibboleths of the literary establishment), but Buddenbrooks is the very definition of a classic.

Four generations of 19th century Germans across 700 pages sounds like a cruel ask, but Mann is writing with a style that is Stendhal crossed with Zola, although he lacks the cynicism of either of those gentlemen. Indeed, for all of his symbols of elegant decay, one gets the sense that Mann rather empathises with this beguiling family.

If you're going to join the clan, you can't go wrong with show more John E. Wood's famous translation. Straightforward, poetic, and compelling:

"The consul climbed the stairs to his living quarters, and the old man groped his way down along the banister to the mezzanine. Then the rambling old house lay tightly wrapped in darkness and silence. Pride, hope, and fear all slept, while rain pelted the deserted streets and an autumn wind whistled around corners and gables."

Every character in the extended family is beautifully realised, from resentful old Thomas to larrikin Christian, their determined sister Tony (my favourite character) and grey-haired old Ida. The book is written in a succession of very short chapters, creating a sense of the piling up of moments like individual knitting loops that come together to form a rich tapestry - or, for that matter, the lines drawn in the old, gold-striped family notebook representing each branch of the family, so childishly (yet ominously) crossed out by the young Hanno, certain before his maturity that there will be no more. Think of the party that opens the novel, or Hanno's captivating piano recital.

"Is that how the world works - like a pretty melody? That's merely flimsy idealism."

Of course, you don't need silly old me to tell you that Mann was a literary luminary. Still, I can't emphasise enough the ease and poignance of this great novel. It shouldn't be an intimidating classic, by any means. show less

Especially glad I read this. It has has an authenticity about it that could only come from a keen observer of family life. No wonder the Nazis burned the book. Mann splinters the ideals of bourgeois duty.