A Drink from the Lethe (MM1) (2023) Peinture par Noël Van Hoof

Thomas Mann – The Magic Mountain – Part 1

"Two days of travel separate this young man (and young he is, with few firm roots in life) from his everyday world, especially from what he called his duties, interests, worries, and prospects – separate him far more than he had dreamed possible as he rode to the station in a hansom cab. Space, as it rolls and tumblesaway between him and his native soil, proves to have powers normally ascribed only to time; from hour to hour, space brings about changes very like those time produces, yet surpassing them in certain ways. Space, like time, gives birth to forgetfulness, but does so by removing an individual from all relationships and placing him in a free and pristine state – indeed, in but a moment it can turn a pedant and philistine into something like a vagabond. Time, they say, is water from the river Lethe, but alien air is a similar drink; and if its effects are less profound, it works all the more quickly."

(English translation by John E. Woods)

Thèmes connexes

Thomas MannThe Magic MountainDer Zauberberg