Magnificent Houses in Twentieth Century European Literature

337 Pages·2012·5.463 MB·English

by  Hugo G. Walter

Magnificent Houses
in Twentieth Century
European Literature
Studies on Themes and Motifs
in Literature

Horst S. Daemmrich
General Editor

Vol. 115

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Hugo G. Walter

Magnificent Houses
in Twentieth Century
European Literature

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walter, Hugo.
Magnificent houses in twentieth century European literature / Hugo G. Walter.
p. cm. — (Studies on themes and motifs in literature; v. 115)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Architecture in literature. 2. Dwellings in literature. 3. Landscape in literature.
4. Setting (Literature). 5. Mann, Thomas, 1875–1955. Buddenbrooks.
6. Waugh, Evelyn, 1903–1966. Brideshead revisited. 7. Tolkien, J. R. R. (John
Ronald Reuel), 1892–1973. Lord of the rings. 8. Lenz, Siegfried, 1926– Deutschstunde.
9. European literature—20th century—History and criticism. I. Title.
PN56.A73W35 809’.93357—dc23 2012002736
ISBN 978-1-4331-1847-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4539-0575-3 (e-book)
ISSN 1056-3970

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2012 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Printed in Germany
This book is dedicated to all individuals who have
an appreciation of magnificent and beautiful houses.
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Thomas Mann 45
Buddenbrooks—The Rise and Fall
of a Prominent Family and Its Aura of Sanctuary 45
Tonio Kröger and Tristan—
The House and Creative Vitality;
the House and Transfiguration in Death 77
Der Zauberberg—Polarity and Spiritual Enhancement 96
Chapter 2 Evelyn Waugh 127
Chapter 3 J. R. R. Tolkien 179
Chapter 4 Siegfried Lenz 219
Conclusion 245
Works Consulted 295
Index 315
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Preface
In my two previous monographs, Sanctuaries of Light in Nineteenth Century European
Literature and Beautiful Sanctuaries in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth- Century European
Literature, I explored the themes of sanctuaries of light, serenity, harmony, and natural
beauty in selected works of William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, E. T. A. Hoffmann,
Joseph von Eichendorff, Charlotte Brontë, Henrik Ibsen, and James Hilton.
In this new monograph I discuss the depiction and the representation of mag-
nificent houses and lovely architectural creations in twentieth century European lit-
erature, focusing especially on the works of Thomas Mann, Evelyn Waugh, J. R. R.
Tolkien, and Siegfried Lenz. The chapter on Thomas Mann is a revised version of
my essay on Mann in Space and Time on the Magic Mountain.
I would also like to add a personal note here which is relevant to my discussion
of the notion of sanctuaries of light. I have been interested in literary studies and in
the theme of beautiful places (places of natural loveliness as well as places of gorgeous
and interesting aesthetic vitality) in literature for many years, dating back to my youth
growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. The natural beauty, the architectural magnifi-
cence and splendor, the luminescence, and the tranquility of the town of Princeton
and of Princeton University have always attracted and appealed to me and have been
consistently inspirational for me aesthetically, emotionally, and spiritually. The sense
of a lovely sanctuary or refuge which I have felt in Princeton and in various other places
in the United States, in Europe, in Great Britain, in Canada, and in Asia is infused
with the aura of the “healing Paradise” (355) of rejuvenating vitality which culminates
Percy Shelley’s “Lines Written among the Euganean Hills” and with the spirit of the
“sense sublime” of which William Wordsworth speaks in “Tintern Abbey”:

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