The Magician is probably a book I would never have chosen to read if it hadn’t appeared on first the longlist then the shortlist for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. I’ve read and enjoyed other books by Colm Tóibín: Brooklyn, about a young Irish immigrant in 1950s New York and House of Names, a retelling of the Oresteia. This one, though, a fictional biography of the author Thomas Mann, sounded less appealing to me, particularly as I’ve read very little of Mann’s work (only Death in Venice and Other Stories) and wasn’t sure if I was really interested in reading about his life. There was only one way to find out…
The Magician begins with Thomas Mann’s childhood in the German city of Lübeck towards the end of the 19th century, then takes us through his entire adult life as he marries, has children, becomes a successful author and leaves Germany for first Switzerland and then the US, where the family will live for several years. The childhood chapters help us to see what shapes Thomas into the man he will later become. His father dies in 1891, leaving Thomas and his siblings with their mother, a Brazilian woman who doesn’t quite conform to the expectations of their quiet, staid community in Lübeck, so they move to Munich where Thomas meets and marries Katia Pringsheim, the daughter of a Jewish mathematician.
A lot of time is devoted to Mann’s relationship with Katia and the six children they have together, but also to his sexual desires for young men, something Katia must have been aware of but seems to have ignored. Some of Mann’s repressed feelings for these men find their way into his writing, such as in Death in Venice where the middle-aged von Aschenbach becomes infatuated with the beautiful young Tadzio. Katia herself also inspires her husband’s work; her stay in a Swiss sanatorium after becoming ill in 1911 forms the basis of The Magic Mountain, a book I haven’t read. No knowledge of Mann’s work is required, but when I came across references like that, I did feel that if I’d been more familiar with his books it would have added something extra to the experience of reading The Magician.
The novel also explores Mann’s relationship with his older brother, Heinrich, another writer, and later in the book, the focus switches more and more to Thomas and Katia’s children, giving us a glimpse of what Thomas was like as a father – but only a glimpse, because Thomas remains a remote and distant figure throughout the novel. I felt that he never fully came to life and although I did learn a lot about him, there was no warmth and I wasn’t able to connect with him on an emotional level. I think a non-fiction book on Mann would probably have worked better for me.
However, as well as telling the story of Thomas Mann’s life, Tóibín also tells the story of the first half of the 20th century; not much time is spent on World War I, but I did find it interesting to see World War II unfold from the perspective of the Manns, a family who leave Germany for their own safety and become part of the German émigré community in Los Angeles. Although it takes Thomas a while to come to terms with what is happening in his home country, once he does he becomes a public critic of the Nazi regime. He also worries about the future of his own books and the loss of the freedom to write material that everybody is able to read:
He contemplated the idea that someday in the near future his books would be withdrawn in Germany, and it frightened him. He thought back to Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain, the books for which he was most famous, and realized that they would have been paler books, less confident, less intense, had he known when he was writing them that no German would be permitted to read them.
The Magician is a book that I admired, but not one that I loved. I’ll continue to read other books by Tóibín, but I think I prefer the way he writes about fictional characters rather than real ones.
This is book 40/50 read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2022.
She Reads Novels 
Interesting. I feel something the way that you did about attempting The Magician, but having read your review, feel slightly more inclined to inch it up my TBR list. I feel it’ll be easy to get distracted by other Must Reads instead however.
It’s probably of more interest to people who’ve read a lot of Thomas Mann, but it’s definitely worth reading even if you haven’t. I understand that problem of getting distracted by other Must Reads, though!
He does seem to have made a thing of writing about authors lately. I think I liked this book better than you did, but you did a better job of explaining what it was about. I’ll update my Walter Scott page with your link.
This just wasn’t my kind of book, but I can see why other people have liked it.
It sounds as if I’d be better seeking other Tóibín titles than this. I have read a couple of Mann novels – Death in Venice and The Holy Sinner stick in my mind – and I think with you that a non-fiction biography might be a more certain bet.
Unless you’re particularly interested in Thomas Mann, I would probably stick to non-fiction as I don’t think this novel really offers much that a good biography wouldn’t.
Historical fic with real people does tend to be tricky to get right. This does sound a worthwhile read despite not quite hitting the right mark
Yes, it’s worthwhile and a lot of people have loved it. I think I should probably have waited until I’d read more of Thomas Mann’s work, then this book might have had more significance for me.
You’ve done a great job of explaining why it is “admired.” I read and enjoyed Brooklyn, but because I’ve not read Mann I had no interest in this one. You’ve made me curious, but I don’t know if I’ll get to it.
I loved Brooklyn, but I found this book very different!
This one doesn’t appeal to me since I’ve read even less Mann than you – none, to be precise! I preferred his books about the women of Enniscorthy – I haven’t enjoyed his most recent ones much.
I found parts of this book interesting but I definitely think I would have got more out of it if I’d read more of Thomas Mann’s work first. I must go back and read Tóibín’s earlier books!
Very interesting since I’ve only just discovered Toibin, but I think I might follow your advice and leave this while for a while and concentrate on his fictional characters!
I can recommend Brooklyn, which I loved. This book really depends on how interested you are in learning about the life of Thomas Mann.
I always feel like I should have read Toibin but I haven’t yet!
Thank you for sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge!
I thought Brooklyn was a great book, if you’re wondering where to start with Toibin!