Mann Heinrich: biography, literary activity, major works

In the history of world literature there are two figures with the surname Mann: Henry and Thomas. These writers are siblings, the youngest of whom became a vivid representative of the philosophical prose of the twentieth century. The elder is no less famous, but he was always in the shadow of his great brother. The subject of the article is the biography of a talented person who devoted his entire life to literature, but died in poverty and loneliness. His name is Mann Heinrich.

Biography and origin

In 1871, a son of a German merchant Thomas Johann Henry Mann was born. The firstborn subsequently became one of the most famous authors of the XX century, whose name is Mann Heinrich. Date of birth - March 27. The brother, whose figure occupies a more significant place in the history of world literature, was born four years later.

Literary activity of the sons of Mann absolutely did not meet the family traditions, according to which, for two centuries, all members of this aristocratic family were engaged exclusively in commerce and public activities.

German and Brazilian blood flowed in the veins of the famous brothers Mann. Heinrich the elder once married a woman whose parents were from South America.

The future writer grew up in favorable conditions. His father held an important public position, which guaranteed all his children (and subsequently their five) a brilliant future. However, the fate of sons and daughters developed quite unexpectedly and tragically. Later the story of this kind, as well as his death, will reflect in his famous novel "Buddenbrooks" Thomas Mann.

After Heinrich graduated from Catarineum, a well-known gymnasium in Lübeck, he went to Dresden in order to learn the tricks of the business in this city. But a year later the young Mann interrupted his studies.

Henry chose to act as a volunteer in one of the Berlin publishing houses. At the same time, he was educated at the University of Friedrich Wilhelm. None of the Mann brothers finished education, because they wanted to write above everything in life. The propensity to creativity was completely uncharacteristic for the representatives of the old German merchant family. If, of course, do not consider Julia Mann - the mother of Thomas and Henry. This woman was distinguished by extravagant behavior, musicality and artistry.

In 1910, one of the daughters in the Mann family died tragically. Henry, whose work in this period was in some state of stagnation, extremely hard suffered the loss of his sister. He married only four years later, at the very beginning of the war. The chosen writer was the Czech actress Maria Canova. But later, in America, fate brought him with a woman named Nellie.

Travels

In 1893, his family was transported to Munich by Senator Johann Mann. Henry during this period undertook several trips, among which was a trip to St. Petersburg. The future writer has not had a permanent residence for many years. From the last decade of the nineteenth century and until the outbreak of World War I, Mann Heinrich, whose photo is presented in this article, constantly moved from city to city. For several years, the German prose writer lived in Italy. And quite a part of his travels was accompanied by his younger brother.

Permanent moves were also a forced measure, after the future writer suffered a serious lung disease in 1982. In order to restore health, the parents sent Henry to Wiesbaden. And it was at this time that the father of the famous prose writer passed away. After the final cure, Henry Mann created the first literary works.

"Teacher Gnus, or End of a tyrant"

The famous novel, whose main character is a pedantic teacher of the gymnasium, was published a year after the creation. But this work, written by Mann Heinrich in 1904, was sharply criticized, and for a while it was completely forbidden. Particularly negatively "the story of falling in love with a man" was perceived in the native city of the prose writer.

The plot is based on the life of a person who, above all, valued power. But since he could manage only his disciples, he strove with all his strength to keep the younger generation in fear. But one day the passion took possession of him and completely changed his life. No wonder in the title of the novel it is said about the "end of one tyrant". Later, the novel was translated into many languages, and then the famous Hollywood director of German origin, Sternberg, shot him a film "Blue Angel" with Marlene Dietrich in the title role.

Disagreements in the views of the brothers Mann

Henry - writer-prose writer, known at the beginning of the century, mainly among German-speaking readers - for many years completely ceased communication with his younger brother Thomas. The reason was acute political disagreements. After moving to America, Henry Mann was in distress, which was further aggravated by the tragic death of his wife. Despite the quarrel, the younger brother came to the rescue. Thomas Mann was one of the wealthiest German intellectual writers.

The Curse of Mann

The children and grandchildren of the German senator and merchant were accompanied by all sorts of misfortunes, which served as fertile ground for gossip and gossip. Both Henry's sisters committed suicide. In the same way, the second wife of the writer left this mortal world.

Thomas Mann, who reacted rather painfully to such events, reacted with strange relief to the death of his brother's wife, stating in a letter to one of his relatives that "this woman only spoiled Henry's life, as she drank too much, scandalized and, worst of all, worked as a waitress in club". The very same great novelist and author of the symbolic work "Death in Venice" all his life allegedly struggled with his homosexual inclinations. What did not stop him, however, to blame for the debauchery of his son, who did not seek to hide his belonging to the sexual minority.

"The loyal subject"

At the very beginning of the First World War, Henry Mann's novel was also published, in which the author quite realistically depicted the mores of Kaiser Germany. Working on the image of the main character, the writer was able to show it "from within". Gesling in Mann's novel is a typical representative of German philistine society, whose characteristic features were aggressiveness towards all foreign and pathological fear of limiting his own power. This work, along with the books of Sigmund Freud, Heinrich Heine and Karl Marx, in the thirties was banned by the fascists.

"The young years of King Henry IV"

In 1935, in one of his most famous works, Henry Mann created a rather convincing image of an ideal ruler. The work reflects events in the life of the monarch, which cover the period, from childhood to death. Later the author wrote a continuation of the novel, and these works comprised a dilogy that played the most significant role in the work of the German prose writer.

In exile

Abroad, Mann's literary activities did not bring any income. Perhaps it was because his novels were of interest primarily to German readers. A significant role in the fact that Mann's career has declined, played a tragedy in the family.

In 1950 in Santa Monica, a very poor and absolutely lonely man died. A month before his death, the writer was offered the post of president of the Academy of Arts, which was in East Germany. But Henry Mann was destined to die on a foreign land, all alone.