Heinrich Mann: Difference between revisions

'''Luiz Heinrich Mann''' ({{IPA-|de|ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈman|lang|De-Heinrich Mann.ogg}}; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply '''Heinrich Mann''', was a German writer known for his [[Social criticism|socio-political]] novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the [[Prussian Academy of Arts]]. His fierce criticism of the growing [[Fascism]] and [[Nazism]] forced him to flee Germany after the Nazis came to power during 1933. He was the elder brother of writer [[Thomas Mann]].

==Work and Exileexile==

Mann's essay on [[Émile Zola]] and the novel ''[[Der Untertan]]'' (published over the years 1912–1918) earned him much respect during the [[Weimar Republic]] in the left-wing circles, since they demonstrated the author's anti-war and deafeatistdefeatist stance during the World War I, and since the latter satirized Imperial German society; both the novel and the essay became a major impulse for [[Thomas Mann]] to write ''[[Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man]]'', a work supporting the efforts of the German Empire in the war and condemning Heinrich as one of "Civilisation's Literary Men" (''Zivilisationsliteraten''), the writers who served the West in its struggle against German "Culture"; later Thomas called the novel an example of "national slander" and "ruthless ruthless aestheticism", while the novel had such admirers as [[Kurt Tucholsky]]. During the revolution, Heinrich became a major supporter of [[Kurt Eisner]], a social democrat revolutionary who [[People's State of Bavaria|proclaimed Bavaria a Socialist republic]]; after Eisner's assassination by a far-right activist, Mann spoke at Eisner's funeral.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heinrich Mann |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Heinrich_Mann.htm |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Spartacus Educational |language=en}}</ref>

He then lived poor and sickly in [[Los Angeles]], supported by his brother Thomas, who lived in [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades]] ([[Thomas Mann House]]). The relationship between the two brothers was always difficult, because Thomas was more successful, received the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, had a rich wife, and the brothers differed considerably politically. Heinrich styled himself as a socialist revolutionary, Thomas, perhaps precisely because of this, at least in his younger years, gave himself a conservative image. They also had little appreciation for each other's very different writing styles and topics.<ref>Hermann Kurzke, ''Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art: A Biography'', chapter IV: ''Thomas and Heinrich'' and XVI: ''Hatred for Hitler'', subchapter ''Heinrich'', Princeton University Press (2002).</ref> While Heinrich was considered a womanizer and philanderer who preferred lower-class women, Thomas valued respectability and looked down on his brother's constant string of mistresses and prostitutes, whom Heinrich described quite openly in some of his novels and short stories, but at the same time was [[Thomas Mann#Sexuality and literary work|fascinated by young men]]. In 1911, Heinrich had accompanied his brother and sister-in-law to Venice, where they stayed at the [[Grand Hôtel des Bains]] on the [[Venice Lido]]. There he witnessed Thomas' obsession with a handsome Polish boy, [[Władysław Moes|Władysław (Władzio) Moes]]. Thomas processed his experience in the novella ''[[Death in Venice]]'' (1912).<ref>{{cite book |last= Mann |first= Thomas |title= Diaries 1918–1939 |year=1983|page = 471 |isbn=978-0-233-97513-9 |publisher= A. Deutsch}}, quoted in e.g. {{cite book |first1=Hermann |last1=Kurzke |first2=Leslie |last2=Wilson |title=Thomas Mann. Life as a Work of Art. A Biography |page=[https://archive.org/details/thomasmannlifeas00kurz/page/752 752] |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-691-07069-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/thomasmannlifeas00kurz/page/752 }}</ref>

Mann was portrayed by [[Alec Guinness]] in the television adaptation of [[Christopher Hampton]]'s play ''Tales from Hollywood'' (1992).<ref>{{cite book |last=Read |first=Piers Paul |author-link=Piers Paul Read |year=2003 |title=Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/alecguinnessauth00read |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |pages=534-535 |isbn=0-7432-4498-2}}</ref>

* Heinrich Mann's life in California during World War II, including his relationship with Nelly Mann, Thomas Mann and [[Bertolt Brecht]], is a subject of Christopher Hampton's play ''Tales from Hollywood'', where he was played in film by JeremyAlec IronsGuinness ([[BBC Video]] ''Performance'': “Tales from Hollywood”, 1992) and on stage by Keir Dullea ([[Guthrie Theater]], Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012).