Disorder and Early Love
The Eroticism of Thomas Mann
Published on 1. August 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
1357 pages
978-1-879384-80-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Mann biographies published so far have largely sidestepped, belittled, or even distorted crucial aspects of his life and work. In particular, Mann's eroticism--a homoeroticism that distanced itself from fulfillment and posited romantic yearning as the driving force of all creative activity--formed the lifelong counterpoint to the reality of his status as a husband and father. Influenced by this eros, all of Mann's writings more or less openly expressed it. The topic influenced his thinking so much that, in a public speech following WW I, he suggested homoeroticism as an appropriate ideological basis for the new German democracy.
In this comprehensive exploration of Thomas Mann's writings--including his journals and his correspondence with family, friends, and writers who influenced him--Dr. Lederer demonstrates that repressed homosexuality permeates all of Mann's work, and that while never having actually allowed himself a homosexual liaison, he yearned for it all his life.
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 69 mm
Weight
1630 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-879384-80-4 (9781879384804)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dr. Wolfgang Lederer is an alumnus of UC Berkeley. He is the author of five books. Dragons, Delinquents and Destiny, an Essay on Positive Superego Functions (International Universities Press, l964) was glowingly reviewed in The Psychoanalytic Review in l966. The Fear of Women (Grune & Stratton, l968), a historico-anthropologico-psychological study, found wide acclaim and was frequently quoted in feminist publications. The entire book was also published in French and in Italian. There followed The Kiss of the Snow Queen--Hans Christian Andersen and Man's Redemption by Woman (The University of California Press, Berkeley, l986). Dr. Lederer has also contributed to countless scientific journals.Leaving his native Austria to flee the rise of Nazi Germany, Dr. Lederer immigrated to the United States. He was able to come to the United States thanks to a UC Berkeley program created to help students escaping Nazi persecution. UC Berkeley became Dr. Lederer's home and refuge, and laid the foundation for his career as a doctor of medicine. In the course of the years, Dr. Lederer was promoted from Instructor to Clinical Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry, UCSF, and was named a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.He and his wife, Alexandra, make their home in Sausalito, California. They count two daughters, two sons-in-law, and three granddaughters among their blessings. In honor of their father's ninetieth birthday, Dr. Lederer's children established The Dr. Wolfgang Lederer Scholarship for Undergraduate Immigrant Students, which helps others in similar need pursue their educations at UC Berkeley.Dr. Lederer did nearly all of the translations from the original German works quoted in Disorder and Early Love.