by Thomas Mann
First published 1999
Adrian Leverkühn, a brilliant but isolated composer, lives in early 20th-century Germany, obsessed with creating revolutionary music. When he contracts syphilis, he makes a radical decision: to trade his physical and emotional health for unprecedented artistic inspiration. Deliberately infected, he enters into a metaphysical pact that will push his musical genius to impossible heights while destroying his humanity. As Europe descends into the madness of World War I, Leverkühn composes increasingly complex and disturbing works that mirror the cultural disintegration around him. His lifelong friend and narrator Serenus Zeitblom chronicles this devastating trajectory, witnessing how artistic ambition can consume a human soul.
Genres: art, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, classical-music, academic
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: pact-with-the-devil, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Lübeck
Period: World War I
535 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide