Tonio Kröger

In this 1903 novella, Mann picks up a slightly different version of the autobiographical character from Buddenbrooks as a schoolboy in Lübeck, torn between the traditions of his mercantile, Nordic father and his flighty, artistic, Latin mother.

The fourteen-year-old Tonio is hopelessly in love with the magnificent, blond, blue-eyed Hans, the character who would be Captain of the First XI in a British school story of the time; two years later he is pining for the equally unattainable (but rather more sketchily described) blonde Inge, the doctor's daughter.

We skim a few years ahead to the artistic south (Schwabing, the arty quarter of Munich at the time), where Tonio is now an acclaimed poet and is rather pompously lecturing his show more painter-friend Lisaweta on the demands creative work makes of the artist. She doesn't seem to mind: they didn't have podcasts in those days, and it's something to listen to as she paints. But her comment that Tonio is really still bourgeois under his aesthetic varnish throws him slightly off-balance, and he decides to make a journey back home to explore his relationship to his Baltic roots.

When Tonio's quiet Danish seaside hotel is invaded by a party of noisy weekenders, he notices a couple of teenagers who look exactly like Hans and Inge, and watching them dancing together in the evening he comes to the conclusion that the only way forward for him as an artist is to find a way to embrace his bourgeois side at the same time as pursuing his abstract, aesthetic ambitions. This doesn't seem to provide him with a way to embrace either Hans or Inge, though...

Interesting, as it's clearly a very personal document in which Mann tries to work out a dichotomy in his nature as an artist that he never really did resolve, and which is perhaps one of the most interesting things about him as a writer of his time. show less

Thomas Mann es un escritor excepcional, no cabe duda. Su estilo es tan musical y lleno de vaivenes rítmicos que gusta dejarse llevar por el ritmo de las palabras. Sin embargo, Tonio Kröger es una novelita para separarnos de su personaje, para entender que no nos podemos acercar a él. Su protagonista, este Tonio Kröger, es un personaje que cada vez que se acerca a un conflicto emocional enraizado con su pasado, se monta un discurso grandilocuente para darse por satisfecho en su elección de ser un hombre aburguesado, elevado a la altura de la poesía y visto por los demás como alguien "importante".

Nada más lejos de la realidad, ya que todo se termina maquinando narrativamente como una estructura perfecta para poder ver la verdad show more de un ser aquejado por expectativas rotas en la niñez y la adolescencia, que se miente a sí mismo para sentirse parte de esos rubios de ojos azules que alaba por pura envidia. Es un personaje aquejado de un desprecio a su condición de mestizaje, a su tez morena propia de un natural del Mediterráneo. Es un personaje que busca la huida al ideal romántico del Norte y creerá disfrutar de aquella evanescencia de lo que significa su ciudad natal, sus recuerdos patéticos de niñez, sus expectativas rotas de conexión con sus dos amores del pasado, descubiertos en un baile que se idealiza pese a ser una coreografía de formalidades ridículas que nadie ve con excesiva felicidad.

En definitiva, Tonio Kröger se encuentra atrapado por la narración, por esa afirmación autoindulgente de su idealizada condición burguesa. Ni su confidente amiga, la bohemia polaca Lisaveta, lo conseguirá desprender de sus idilios febriles que no le dejan vivir viviendo, sino no-vivir pensando que vive. Y a pesar de todo, de que no es una lectura que busque una conclusión satisfactoria y que se empeñe en sacarnos del personaje para verlo en su realidad más cruda; es esta sorpresa como lectores y el interés que genera cuando entendemos que ese "no he entendido nada", en realidad es un "me gustaría haber visto algo que no había, pero ha sido interesante que me saquen del personaje para que sea crítico con él y vea lo absurdo e irónico que es todo". show less

Read for the language more than any driving interest in the story. Like Kafka the vocabulary is relatively simple, though the concepts are not, so a nice way to practise my German. The story appears to be autobiographical, and according to the introduction by J.A. Kelly, Mann readily acknowledged this, even claiming the work a favourite of his.

The central theme is that of identity and the tension between Tonio Kroeger's artistic and bourgeoise sensibilities. I was pleased that neither the artistic side of Tonio's personality nor his equally strong rational side were stereotypes. At various points, Tonio rejected the easy quoting or mimicry of literary tradition, finding it insipid and unfulfilling (as a way for him to express himself show more artistically, at least). His buergerliche inclinations seemed to make themselves felt primarily as a way of approaching his art and life, than as a goal or ideal (ways vs means). But that wasn't altogether clear, and worth thinking about upon another reading.

The novella reads quickly enough, I'm interested to read My Name Is Asher Lev and then return to "Tonio Kroeger" to compare them, and get back to this question of what precisely about Tonio's personality was artistic, and what bourgeois. show less

I’m hard pressed. Normally it’s relatively easy to write a review, especially of a Thomas Mann story. But this short story has me stumped. I keep wondering why Mann wrote this. The only novelty here is the name of the central character. The family name, Kroeger, is immediately recognizable as a typical German name. But the first name doesn’t send the same message. It, Tonio, is the shortening of a typical Italian name, Antonio. That peaks one interest but it's explained relatively simply, his mother was not German, and a free spirit, wanted her son to reflect her background. But he’s left to deal with this for the rest of his life. It may have been a monetary thing for his parents, but not for him. His family dissolved when he show more was still a child and he was raised by others.

At one point in his adult life he decides to expose where he came from. He goes back to the city of his youth and finds the house he grew up in has been turned into a public library. Rather than identify himself he decides to abandon his journey and leaves the house, the city and even the country. I had hoped this would have been described in more detail or become a more central event. Instead he seems to reject his past. I wanted more. It’s not there.

Even though I love Thomas Mann I can say you can skip this one without much loss. show less

Concisely, clearly written and easily understood. The work was very approachable and the theme easily accessible. This short novel makes me want to read his longer works.

In this autobiographical work, Mann described the two exclusive kinds of human-being. Ordinary people and artists. Although he had slight contempt in him toward ordinary people, the antagonist, Tonio was eager to become part of them from the bottom of his heart. But it was impossible. He couldn't even think of that, because he was an artist, who was cursed, deaf by the flame from the bottom of hell.

Kultura dhe letërsia e shekullit të 20-të, nuk mund të kuptohen pa emrin e Tomas Manit, laureuar me çmimin “Nobel” në 1929.

Krijimtaria shumë e pasur e autorit plotëson, nga titulli në titull, atë njohje të natyrës njerëzore, pa të cilën njeriu i kohës sonë do ta kuptonte më pak vetveten. Natyra e tij kërkuese, që synon t’u shkojë gjërave deri në fund, ndjenja e realitetit dhe lidhja me traditat e shëndosha të kulturës e të letërsisë gjermane e botërore.

Për nobelistin njerëzimi ndahet në dy kategori: në njerëz të lumtur, që s’kanë kërkesa shpirtërore, e në njerëz të trishtuar, që vuajnë nga shkaku i këtyre kërkesave. Tonio Krëgeri eksploron temat e artit në jetën e përditshme dhe show more largimin nga realiteti show less