LOVE AND ENCHANTMENT

This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. His matchless understanding of character, subtle ironies and layered plots are on full display in these tales of innocence and experience, the pain of individuality and the consolations and limitations of art. "Tonio Kröger" is a classic story of the artist's formation, infused with profound melancholy. After early, bruising experiences in love, young Tonio retreats into an ideal world of literature, believing that the artist must retain a distance from the lived experience of life. Never quite able to shake his envy of those who seem able to enjoy the moment, the older Tonio returns to his roots in search of resolution. Alongside this great work are 2 stories that dramatize with profound understanding the conflicts and changes of Mann's time. In "Disorder and Early Sorrow," the rush of new sexual freedoms upsets the stable order of older generations at a party during a time of social strain, while "Mario and the Magician" recounts a family's ill-fated holiday in 1920s Italy, where misunderstandings and bizarre performances reveal the sharp edge of nationalist fervor. Translated with luminous clarity by Lesley Chamberlain, Love and Enchantment offers an expansively beautiful selection of the work of one of the world's great writers.