The Inevitability of the Duel (MM36) (2024) 絵画 Noël Van Hoof によって

Thomas Mann – The Magic Mountain – Part 36

“The duel, my friend, is not just any 'arrangement.' It is the final arrangement, a return to the primal state of nature, only slightly moderated by certain chivalrous, but purely superficial rules. The essence of the situation remains what it has been since the beginning, a physical struggle, and it is each man's duty, however far he may be from nature, to keep himself equal to this situation. Whoever is unable to stand up for an ideal with his person, his arm, his blood, is unworthy of that ideal, and no matter how intellectual one may become, what matters is that one remains a man.”
That put Hans Castorp in his place. What could he reply to that? He said nothing, only brooded gloomily. Herr Settembrini's words seemed calm and logical, and yet they sounded strange and unnatural coming from him. His thoughts were not his thoughts – just as he would never have taken the notion to fight a duel on his own, but had only adopted it from Naphta, the little terrorist; they merely showed that he, too, was enveloped by the same inner state that had possession of them all – it had enslaved Herr Settembrini's beautiful reason, had made it its tool. What? Ideas, simply because they were rigorous, led inexorably to bestial deeds, to a settlement by physical struggle? Hans Castorp rebelled against the notion or at least tried to do so – only to find to his horror that he could not.

(English translation by John E. Woods)

関連テーマ

Thomas MannThe Magic MountainDer Zauberberg