"In a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice. He is the most successful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. He flees Germany for Switzerland, France and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton and then in Los Angeles. In a stunning marriage of research and imagination, Tóibin explores the heart and mind of a writer whose gift is unparalleled and whose life is driven by a need to belong and the anguish of illicit desire."--

"The Magician opens at the turn of the twentieth century in a provincial German city where the young boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative, conventional father and a Brazilian mother, exotic and unpredictable, who will never fit in. He hides both his artistic aspirations and his homosexual desires from this father, and his sexuality from everyone. He longs for the charismatic, beautiful, rich, cultured young Jewish man, but marries his twin sister. He longs for a boy he sees on a beach in Venice and writes a novel about him. He has six children. He is the most successful novelist of his time. He wins the Nobel Prize and is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler. His oldest daughter and son share lovers. They are leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement. This stunning combination of German propriety and Bohemian revolution goes hand in hand for decades. We see the rise of Hitler, the forced exile of a swath of German writers and artists, Mann's narrow escape to America, his sojourn at Princeton, along with fellow exile Einstein, and his final move to LA in the late 40s where he presided over an astonishing community of writers, artists and musicians, including Brecht and Shoenberg, even as his children court tragedy. To call this a portrait of an artist is both reductive and true-it is a novel about a character and a family, fiercely engaged by the world, profoundly flawed, and as flamboyant as it's possible to be"--

In a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, a young boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father, and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with the son of one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich and marries the daughter. He and Katia have six children. In the novel Buddenbrooks, he writes about his own family. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the novella Death in Venice. When Katia spends six months in a sanatorium, he writes The Magic Mountain. He is the most succesful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. In 1933, the Manns flee Germany for Switzerland, France, and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton, New Jersey, and then in Los Angeles.

In a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, a young boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father, and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with the son of one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich and marries the daughter. He and Katia have six children. In the novel Buddenbrooks, he writes about his own family. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the novella Death in Venice. When Katia spends six months in a sanatorium, he writes The Magic Mountain. He is the most succesful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. In 1933, the Manns flee Germany for Switzerland, France, and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton, New Jersey, and then in Los Angeles.

""Volshebnik" -- ėto literaturnai͡a biografii͡a proslavlennogo romanista Tomasa Manna, avtora "Buddenbrokov" i "Volshebnoĭ gory", "Smerti v Venet͡sii" i "Doktora Faustusa", laureata Nobelevskoĭ premii. Ėto semeĭnai͡a saga, okhvatyvai͡ushchai͡a bolʹshe poluveka; si͡uda umestilisʹ i detstvo v patriarkhalʹnom Li͡ubeke, i i͡unostʹ v bogemnom Mi͡unkhene, i semeĭnoe schastʹe, i nepronit͡saemye taĭny vnutrennego mira, i Pervai͡a mirovai͡a voĭna, i begstvo ot fashistskoĭ diktatury, i Vtorai͡a mirovai͡a voĭna, i nachalo voĭny kholodnoĭ... "Volshebnik" -- ėto ne prosto biografii͡a, a proizvedenie iskusstva, ėmot͡sionalʹnoe podvedenie itogov veka peremen, i v t͡sentre ego -- chelovek, kotoryĭ pytaetsi͡a ne sgibatʹ spinu, no vechno kolebletsi͡a pod vetrami ėtikh peremen."--