Abstract

Thomas Mann’s "The Magic Mountain" (1924) is a milestone in the history of fiction on tuberculosis. From a medical standpoint, Mann’s novel is located at the nexus between two rather disparate historical developments: the perception concerning the natural and medical sciences in the early twentieth century, on the one hand, and the historical proclivity toward a mythicization of illness, on the other. This article explicates the manifestation of both developments in Mann’s "The Magic Mountain." The novel has been consistently categorized as a work that strongly sympathizes with illness and death. This interpretation requires reconsideration. Outwardly concerned with illness and death, the novel in actuality celebrates health and life.