“Provi uno a imitarmi senza rompersi il collo”. Rispecchiamenti audaci tra vita e opera di illustri sessagenari: Thomas Mann, Goethe, Charlotte Kestner nata Buff

Abstract

The essay focuses on the novel Lotte in Weimar (1939) by Thomas Mann, which inaugurates the last phase of his literary production. It investigates the most relevant themes and stylistic features recurring in it. Ageing, both a metaphor and a stylistic signature at the same time, allowed Mann to move between various levels: Bourgeois realism, Sturm und Drang and Classicism; real and fictitious loves; reality, fantasy and artwork; youth and maturity; science and poetry; history and myth. Through the disenchanted and an irreverent ironic gaze, Mann creates an ante-litteram postmodern work. In particular, the essay analyzes the relationships between Mann, Germany in the 1930s vs Goethe's age; the relationship between Eros and Thanatos, work of art and life; and finally, the hotel as the ideal chronotope of the narrative.