Magic Mountain

One mark of the prototypical pseudo-intellectual is the statement that something is "deep" or "profound" merely because the thing exists on a higher plain than the person making the statement. One sees this a lot among the college crowd--even with engineers--as a movie that is bizarre is almost always "deep".

American Beauty and Donnie Darko had their moments, but neither struck me as especially deep. I do not think I will ever understand what was so alluring about Garden State, and aside from the concept of "silent velcro" those are two hours of my life I would very much like back. The whole genre of "college thinking movies"--as my friend Tyler puts it--seems to be worshipped by people who do not know how to think very well at all.

Now that this is out of the way, I can attempt to review a book which was to a large extent over my head. Certainly I understood it, but I do not know how much I understood, because Magic Mountain was a very "deep" read. A very good novel will often make salient points which are not altogether connected with the theme, and yet manage not to divert from it. Thomas Mann does this time and time again, as the characters wax philosophically on many occasions, "taking stock" of various issues such as the nature of time, the importance of human reason, death, the idea of progress, and of course war.

Though at times a bit dense, the dialogue was by far the most entertaining and enlightening part of the book, as the plot was purposefully thin. It was a mark of his brilliance that Mann could write so much on so many topics within a novel that very little happens. Or perhaps, as a citizen in a time period where hustling and bustling is the order of the day, the plot was largely lost on me for being too subtle.

The "hero" of the novel is named Hans Castorp. He is at once a strong enough character that the reader is drawn to him and cares about him, and a weak enough character that the larger personalities and intelligences of his peers influence him, albeit slowly and again, subtly.

There is very little left of me to say, I think. The book concerns war, and though often as not the background, the reader cannot go too long without recalling what is surely pending. It would seem from the brevity, as well as the lack of profundity and deepness, that I have not "gotten" this book at all. The reality of course, is that the lessons were imparted upon me. However, the nature of the book prevents a reader from simply regurgitating the whole point of the book.

For though Mann is "a wiser man than I", he is wise enough to know he does not know it all--much like Socrates perhaps. His book leaves the reader with many questions, and the war hangs over a man's thoughts just as it hangs over our hero.

I doubt very much that war will ever be a forgotten relic of the barbaric past at any time. Yet, perhaps, a trip up the Magic Mountain will suffice to stave of the violent end, at least for a moment. Then again... hmmm... and my thoughts go shooting off again.

A puzzling and provocative read indeed, but well worth it, despite my incoherent ramblings that beg the contrary.