O singelo Hans Castorp: contexto e debates na formação do protagonista d'A Montanha Mágica, de Thomas Mann (1912-1924)

Abstract

The simple Hans Castorp: context and debates in the formation of the protagonist of Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain (1912-1924) is characterized by its transdisciplinary nature. Having as problematic the set of ideas in profusion, in the beginning of the 20th century, in Europe, we investigate the context of production and the themes related to the cultural formation of Hans Castorp in The Magic Mountain (1924). Circumscribed to an arc of twelve years, the period of composition of the narrative corresponded to the moment when European civilization was undergoing countless transformations: cultural, artistic, economic and social. This context influenced the form acquired by the work, and its author, Thomas Mann, had his career and personal life marked by the profusion of events that led him to reassess the role of art, the artist and literature itself, in the 1910s and early in the next decade. In addition to analyzing the relationship between the contexts and the period of composition of the work, we will note how, through a thorough reading of the debates between Lodovico Settembrini and Leo Naphta, the writer produced, in those years, a relevant synthesis of the ideas in dispute. Amidst the intellectual debate, we have the formative path of the “simple” Hans Castorp, protagonist of the plot, and responsible for, through his experiences, radiating renewed senses about time, life and its civilization.