Hans Castorp, a young engineer from Hamburg, travels to a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland, to visit his cousin for three weeks. He is diagnosed with a minor lung ailment and stays for seven years. Among the patients he meets Madame Chauchat, with whom he falls in love, and two opposed thinkers, the humanist Settembrini and the radical Naphta, who argue about progress, religion and politics. Time stretches and loses meaning, until the outbreak of World War I draws him out of the mountain.
A major novel of ideas for patient readers interested in European intellectual life before 1914. It rewards anyone who enjoys long, thoughtful stories about illness, time and the crisis of a civilization.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1991
- Publisher
- Fischer
- Language
- DE
