Hermitix Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus with Steve Dowden and John Burt
In a thought-provoking discussion, Steve Dowden, a Professor of German literature, and John Burt, an esteemed Professor of American Literature, delve into Thomas Mann's "Doctor Faustus." They explore the intertwining of art and politics, discussing Mann's critique of cultural exhaustion and the demonic qualities within art. Insights into Leverkühn’s ambitions, his failures in love, and the implications of his pact with the devil reveal deeper meanings. The conversation also touches on the impact of Adorno and the troubling absence of anti-Semitism in Mann's portrayal.
01:10:47
Artist-Hero Tradition Reframed
- Dr. Faustus ties the artist-hero tradition to unanswerable questions about art's power and cultural meaning.
- John Burt argues Mann expands that tradition while probing whether culture can still matter in modern catastrophe.
Long-Germination, Mixed Success
- Mann began Dr. Faustus decades earlier and reshaped it after exile, blending the artist story with Germany's political collapse.
- Steve Dowden calls it a brilliant novel that also embodies a creative failure in managing the political side.
Modernism ≠ Political Radicalism
- Mann's novel raises the expected link between avant-garde modernism and political darkness but refuses a simple alignment.
- John Burt notes Leverkühn's politics are not radical, complicating any direct link to fascism.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
Doctor Faustus as Artist-Hero Tradition
02:06 • 1min
Mann's Long Development and Political Ambition
03:10 • 1min
Does Mann Link Modernism and Political Darkness?
04:19 • 2min
Why Zeitblom Narrates Leverkühn’s Life
06:32 • 4min
Zeitblom as Mann's Self-Reflection
10:04 • 2min
Can Art Survive Postwar Decline?
12:00 • 2min
Leverkühn’s Breakthrough vs. Zeitblom’s Limits
13:45 • 3min
Leverkühn’s Imaginary Breakthrough
16:21 • 3min
Kretschmar’s Teaching and Musical Philosophy
19:00 • 4min
Privileging Polyphony and Anti-Humanist Aesthetics
23:16 • 2min
Art’s Demonic Charge and Political Danger
25:02 • 2min
Is Embracing the Demonic Inevitable?
27:16 • 2min
Can Art Be Politically Aligned with the Demonic?
29:30 • 4min
How to Treat the Faust Legend
33:09 • 2min
Eros, Disease, and the Terms of the Pact
35:10 • 3min
What Are the Devil’s Conditions?
38:34 • 2min
Leverkühn’s Failed Marriage and Nepomuk’s Death
40:50 • 3min
Taking Back the Ninth Symphony: Art's Failure
43:47 • 2min
Love as Precondition for Art’s Renewal
45:44 • 57sec
Is Leverkühn Redeemed or Damned?
46:41 • 3min
Adorno’s Influence and the 'Art After Auschwitz' Question
49:54 • 4min
Adorno’s Lectures as Source Material
53:30 • 2min
Host’s Critique: Great Man Theory and Possession
55:00 • 2min
Major Blind Spot: Anti-Semitism
57:16 • 1min
Role of Peripheral Characters and Bourgeois Exhaustion
58:21 • 2min
Parallels with Death in Venice: Reversed Outcome
01:00:30 • 2min
Does Postmodernism Answer Art’s Crisis?
01:02:39 • 3min
Leverkühn Predicts and Transcends Postmodernism
01:05:12 • 4min
Reading Mann’s Language and Lesser Novels
01:09:30 • 1min
Outro
01:10:43 • 3sec
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Steve Dowden is a Professor of German language and literature in the Department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures. He graduated in 1984 from the University of California with a Ph.D in German literature. After a decade teaching at Yale and a year as a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Konstanz he joined the Brandeis faculty in 1994. Dowden has published on German literature, art, music, and intellectual history from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. John Burt is the Paul Prosswimmer Professor of American Literature at Brandeis University and the author of the novel A MOMENT’S SURRENDER (Hollywood Books International, forthcoming), three volumes of poetry: THE WAY DOWN (Princeton University Press, 1988), WORK WITHOUT HOPE (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), and VICTORY (Turning Point Press, 2007). His non-fiction book LINCOLN’S TRAGIC PRAGMATISM (Harvard University Press, 2013) was positively reviewed on the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. He is the literary executor of the poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren, whose collected poems he edited.In this episode we discuss Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus.--- Become part of the Hermitix community: Hermitix Twitter - https://twitter.com/Hermitixpodcast Support Hermitix: Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/hermitix Donations: - https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpod Hermitix Merchandise - http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2 Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLK Ethereum Donation Address: 0x31e2a4a31B8563B8d238eC086daE9B75a00D9E74