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Love and Enchantment

Three Stories

Part of Pushkin Press Classics

Author Thomas Mann
Translated by Lesley Chamberlain
Paperback
$16.95 US
Steerforth Press | Pushkin Press Classics
On sale May 05, 2026 | 160 Pages | 9781805332701
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3 of Thomas Mann’s most gorgeous, subtle stories of love and conflict, in sparkling new translations, from the author of THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN and DEATH IN VENICE.

“The greatest German novelist of the 20th century.” ― Spectator

This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. His matchless understanding of character, subtle ironies and layered plots are on full display in these tales of innocence and experience, the pain of individuality and the consolations and limitations of art.

“Tonio Kröger” is a classic story of the artist’s formation, infused with profound melancholy. After early, bruising experiences in love, young Tonio retreats into an ideal world of literature, believing that the artist must retain a distance from the lived experience of life. Never quite able to shake his envy of those who seem able to enjoy the moment, the older Tonio returns to his roots in search of resolution.

Alongside this great work are 2 stories that dramatize with profound understanding the conflicts and changes of Mann’s time. In “Disorder and Early Sorrow,” the rush of new sexual freedoms upsets the stable order of older generations at a party during a time of social strain, while “Mario and the Magician” recounts a family’s ill-fated holiday in 1920s Italy, where misunderstandings and bizarre performances reveal the sharp edge of nationalist fervor.

Translated with luminous clarity by Lesley Chamberlain, Love and Enchantment offers an expansively beautiful selection of the work of one of the world’s great writers.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was perhaps Germany’s most famous twentieth-century writer. Born to a merchant family in Lübeck, Mann was preparing to enter the family business when his father suddenly died and the business was liquidated. The family moved to Munich, where Mann began his literary career with the epic novel Buddenbrooks (1901), which was a huge success. Further novels and stories followed, including Death in Venice (1912) and The Magic Mountain (1924); five years following publication of the latter novel, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. When Hitler came to power, Mann fled to Switzerland, and from there he escaped to California at the outbreak of the Second World War. He is buried in Switzerland, where he spent his final years.

Lesley Chamberlain is a British writer and critic who has written extensively on German and Russian literature and published three novels.
Thomas Mann View titles by Thomas Mann

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3 of Thomas Mann’s most gorgeous, subtle stories of love and conflict, in sparkling new translations, from the author of THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN and DEATH IN VENICE.

“The greatest German novelist of the 20th century.” ― Spectator

This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. His matchless understanding of character, subtle ironies and layered plots are on full display in these tales of innocence and experience, the pain of individuality and the consolations and limitations of art.

“Tonio Kröger” is a classic story of the artist’s formation, infused with profound melancholy. After early, bruising experiences in love, young Tonio retreats into an ideal world of literature, believing that the artist must retain a distance from the lived experience of life. Never quite able to shake his envy of those who seem able to enjoy the moment, the older Tonio returns to his roots in search of resolution.

Alongside this great work are 2 stories that dramatize with profound understanding the conflicts and changes of Mann’s time. In “Disorder and Early Sorrow,” the rush of new sexual freedoms upsets the stable order of older generations at a party during a time of social strain, while “Mario and the Magician” recounts a family’s ill-fated holiday in 1920s Italy, where misunderstandings and bizarre performances reveal the sharp edge of nationalist fervor.

Translated with luminous clarity by Lesley Chamberlain, Love and Enchantment offers an expansively beautiful selection of the work of one of the world’s great writers.

Author

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was perhaps Germany’s most famous twentieth-century writer. Born to a merchant family in Lübeck, Mann was preparing to enter the family business when his father suddenly died and the business was liquidated. The family moved to Munich, where Mann began his literary career with the epic novel Buddenbrooks (1901), which was a huge success. Further novels and stories followed, including Death in Venice (1912) and The Magic Mountain (1924); five years following publication of the latter novel, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. When Hitler came to power, Mann fled to Switzerland, and from there he escaped to California at the outbreak of the Second World War. He is buried in Switzerland, where he spent his final years.

Lesley Chamberlain is a British writer and critic who has written extensively on German and Russian literature and published three novels.
Thomas Mann View titles by Thomas Mann

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