Abstract

The Dualism of Thomas Mann

The article discusses the book "Three Essays," by Thomas Mann. The author is an artist-philosopher with an ideological system of his own. Perched upon the pinnacle of his magic mountain he sees a titanic struggle going on below him, but he cannot be sure which side ought to win and in the confusion he cannot even distinguish with certainty the disposition of the troops. Down there where the dreamy East is meeting the pragmatical West and the contemplative artist stands up against the man of action; down there where the children of nature contend with the children of spirit and where the Catholic ideal of a hierarchy gives battle to the liberal faith in the ethics of democracy, down there on that dubious field the fate of mankind is being decided.