Showing results for "Männer" in Genre Fiction

Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912 and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.

Thomas Mann's last great novel, first published in 1947 and now newly rendered into English by acclaimed translator John E. Woods, is a modern reworking of the Faust legend, in which Germany sells its soul to the Devil. Mann's protagonist, the composer Adrian Leverkühn, is the flower of German culture, a brilliant, isolated, overreaching figure, his radical new music a breakneck game played by art at the very edge of impossibility. In return for twenty-four years of unparalleled musical accomplishment, he bargains away his soul—and the ability to love his fellow man.

Ulrich, der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, nimmt sich im August 1913 für ein Jahr "Urlaub vom Leben", nachdem seine Versuche, ein berühmter Mann zu werden, kläglich gescheitert sind. Nun sucht der Mathematiker, Charmeur und Zyniker nach neuen Zielen und Sinn. Er wird Sekretär bei den Planungen des 70. Thronjubiläums des österreichischen Kaisers Franz Joseph I., das immer größenwahnsinnigere Ausmaße annimmt.

In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, a community devoted exclusively to sickness, as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality.

In seinem ersten Roman Buddenbrooks erzählt Thomas Mann nur wenig verschlüsselt die Geschichte seiner Familie und ihrer Stellung in der Vaterstadt Lübeck, soweit er sie nachvollziehen, in Einzelheiten überblicken konnte, ja sogar noch miterlebt hat. Verwandte, Honoratioren und markante Persönlichkeiten seiner Jugend werden integriert. Es ist die Geschichte des langsamen Niedergangs einer reichen Kaufmannsfamilie über vier Generationen hinweg. Auch mehr als hundert Jahren nach seinem ersten Erscheinen hat der Roman nichts an Charme und Aktualität eingebüßt.

On March 7, 2004, former SAS soldier and mercenary Simon Mann prepared to take off from Harare International Airport. His destination was Equatorial Guinea; his intention was to remove one of the most brutal dictators in Africa in a privately organized coup d’état. The plot had the tacit approval of Western intelligence agencies, and Mann had already planned, overseen, and won two wars in Angola and Sierra Leone. So why did it go so wrong?

Waiter by day, man about Paris by night; the young and good looking Felix Krull has created for himself a personality to charm and deceive the world of wealth. When the Marquis de Venosta makes him a proposal that he can't refuse, the young Felix finds himself on the pathway that will elevate him into the world of riches.

Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.

Described by Michael Mann as both a prequel and sequel to the renowned, critically acclaimed film of the same name, Heat 2 covers the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Oscar winner Al Pacino) and elite criminals Neil McCauley (Oscar winner Robert De Niro), Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) and Nate (Oscar winner Jon Voight), and features the same extraordinary ambition, scope, rich characterisations and attention to detail as the epic film.

Walter ist der unbeliebteste Postbote der ganzen Stadt. Er wird in die Abteilung für unzustellbare Briefe versetzt – und natürlich hasst er es. Eines Tages erreicht ihn ein Schreiben an den lieben Gott. Der zehnjährige Ben will wissen, wie man einen Antrag ausfüllt. Selbst Walter ahnt: Hier liegt einiges im Argen. Er antwortet Ben – selbstverständlich als Gott. Ein Briefwechsel beginnt, und Walter erfährt immer mehr über das Leben des Jungen mit seiner depressiven Mutter. Mehr als alles andere wünscht Ben sich einen Freund. Und Walter... nun, Walter hat seine eigenen Probleme.

Ausgangspunkt für Thomas Manns Goethe-Roman ist der historisch belegte Besuch Charlotte Kestners, Goethes unglücklicher Jugendliebe und Vorbild für die Figur der Lotte im 'Werther', 1816 in Weimar. In einer Mischung aus Fiktion und Wirklichkeit arrangiert Thomas Mann geschickt das Wiedertreffen zwischen Lotte und dem inzwischen berühmten Goethe. Es kommt zu Gesprächen, von denen sich Lotte Aufschluss über die frühere Leidenschaft erhofft. Gert Westphal gibt diesem Mann`schen Roman seine klangvolle Stimme.

Jens Leunich besitzt nur so viel, wie in zwei Koffer passt - und außerdem genug Millionen auf dem Konto, um sein ganzes Leben in den Luxushotels der Welt zu verbringen. Abgesehen davon tut er - nichts. Gar nichts. Denn nichts zu tun, hat er erkannt, ist der beste Weg, die Welt zu retten. Bloß ist nichts zu tun nicht so einfach, wie die meisten denken. Diese und andere schlaue Einsichten will er nun niederschreiben - doch ganz gegen seine Gewohnheiten muss er sich damit beeilen, denn er hat nur noch zehn Tage zu leben.

1942, Manchester. World War II is in full swing, and Lily Mullins is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Her friends and sweetheart have all joined up, and Lily's sure there must be a role for her that goes further than knitting socks for the troops! When she decides to volunteer for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Lily soon discovers that she has a talent as a wireless operator. Helped along the way by a special gang of girls, she finds strengths she didn't know she had and realises that the safety of the country might just be in her hands....

A stunningly beautiful youth and the city of Venice set the stage for Thomas Mann’s introspective examination of erotic love and philosophical wisdom.

It's 1942, and World War Two is in full swing. Roberta 'Bobby' Hollis has joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in a team of pilots known as the 'glamour girls'. Just as capable as the men, these women ferry aircraft, parts and people between factories, assembly plants and airfields.

Manx born and bred, Bridget Quayle loves the island and knows every inch of it like the back of her hand. But that doesn't mean she wants to be there now, as World War II rages around the world. As a newly trained police officer, living in the vibrant and bustling city of London, she had it all. A budding career, celebrity status as one of only a few female officers, and a busy social life. Then World War II strengthened its grip and she found herself posted back to the island - a stark contrast to the exciting streets of the capital.

It's 1942, and at 19 years old, Hannah Compton has the world at her feet. But with World War II raging, the country is in turmoil, and Hannah decides to do her bit for the War effort. Hannah's beloved grandfather taught her to grow vegetables in his market garden and inspires her to become one of over 200,000 women joining the Land Army. Posted to Salhouse Farm on the outskirts of Norwich, Hannah is excited for the adventure ahead of her. But soon reality hits. Hannah is a city girl at heart, and life in the countryside is not what she imagined.

Felix Krull, der überaus anziehende und charmante Sohn eines bankrotten Sektfabrikanten, entwickelt schon im Kindesalter Vorlieben für das diebische Gewerbe. Weder Schokolade, noch Liebesbeweise entgehen seiner Aneignungslust - und da die Welt betrogen werden will, betrügt er sie! Als ein Rollentausch mit dem Marquis de Venosta seinen Aufstieg vom Hotelpagen zum Adligen ermöglicht, stehen ihm alle Türen offen, was er nur zu geschickt zu nutzen weiß.

The bond that changed everything is put to its final test. It has been more than twenty years since the Kindred came to live in Rockwood. Most of the villagers have embraced the Kindred and all that they have to teach, but there are those who fear the Kindreds' influence, and so have drifted away to live as outcasts. The outcasts suffer, living as they do, but they refuse help, even from the Horse-Bonded.

A towering figure in the pantheon of twentieth-century literature, Thomas Mann has often been perceived as a dry and forbidding writer—"the starched collar," as Bertolt Brecht once called him. But in fact, his fiction is lively, humane, sometimes hilarious. In these fresh renderings of his best short work, award-winning translator Damion Searls casts new light on this underappreciated aspect of Mann's genius.