Thomas Mann’s first and most popular novel, Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901), traces a patrician family's decline during the years of German unification. Mann's novel required him to be, as Rainer Maria Rilke observed, both a chronicler, “the calm and unexcited reporter of events” in the lives of four generations of a family, and a poet, one able “to imbue many figures with convincing vitality, with warmth and substance.” The discussion will be guided by returning leader Joseph Alulis of the University of Chicago’s Graham School.

This class will meet on Thursdays, April 18 through May 23, in the library's Hammond Room. Please note that the May 9 session will take place in the Forte Room due to overlap with another library program.

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