Emigrant Writers and Cultural-Literary Connections in Various Historical Contexts
Thomas Mann in Exile: The Phenomenon of the German Nation in Thomas Mann's Essay „Germany and the Germans“
Published 2026-02-19
Keywords
- Thomas Mann,
- essay “Germany and the Germans”,
- phenomenon of the German nation,
- deideologization,
- comprehensive approach
Abstract
The subject of the research is Thomas Mann's essay “Germany and the Germans” (“Deutschland und die Deutschen”), written by him in 1945 – during his emigration to the United States. The purpose of this work is to introduce this essay into the modern literary-critical discourse. The essay “Germany and the Germans” is devoted to identifying the archetype of the German nation in the synthesis of historical time, philosophical, socio-political searches up to the events of the national catastrophe – the war of 1939-1945. The stereotype of German thinking is derived by the author not so much by critical as by artistic vision.