Friday, December 16, 2016

Der Zauberberg: Thomas Mann, Gerard Manley Hopkins, & The Plow, The Word


" . . . I love and revere the written word, the bearer of the human intellect, the tool, the shining plow of progress. Music . . . there is something only semi-articulate about it, something dubious, irresponsible, indifferent."


Ludovico Settembrini
The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann



Of course, I don't agree with the bit about music, but Settembrini is kind of an ass at times, so I think that we can attribute that part of it to his personality. But I do think that this makes it even more inappropriate that Luchino Visconti made Gustav von Eschenbach a musician (instead of a writer) in the movie version of Death in Venice. And the first part of the quote, about the written word, is just superb, isn't it? It also makes me think of Gerard Manley Hopkins's line, 

     sheer plod makes plough down sillion 

     Shine . . .

which is a thought very near and dear to my heart
as you can see. 

It's all about words. In the beginning was the word. And words make magic. But only if you spell correctly.

No comments: