This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit grandhotelabyss.substack.com

Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here. The 2024 and 2025 archives are here. This episode, of which the first 20 minutes are free, is the first in a four-part sequence on Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain. We discuss Mann’s life, times, and other works; consider questions of translation; and introduce the novel’s themes of bourgeois reason and moderation vs. illness, sex, death, and the exotic, in terms both private and public, personal and political. We also elaborate on the novel’s modernist form, its enactment or performance of a temporal philosophy, despite its superficially traditional realism. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall: