Klaus Mann
Mann, Klaus (Munich, 1906-49, by suicide, Cannes), in full Heinrich Klaus Mann, a son of Th. Mann, worked as a dramatic critic and advisor (Dramaturg) in Berlin, where he collaborated for a time with Pamela Wedekind (daughter of F. Wedekind), G. Gründgens, and his sister Erika Mann (1905-69). After his emigration he collaborated for two years with A. Huxley, A. Gide, and Heinrich Mann in Die Sammlung, a periodical for emigrants. In 1936 he went to the USA where he continued to work as a journalist, which involved his return to Europe (1938) as a correspondent for the Spanish Civil War. His tract Gottfried Benn, die Geschichte einer Verirrung (1937 in Das Wort, Heft 9) opened the so-called Expressionismusdebatte (see Lukács, G., and Walden, H.).
As a creative writer, Mann began at an early age with a collection of stories, Vor dem Leben (1925), the novel Der fromme Tanz. Das Abenteuerbuch einer Jugend (1925), and Kindernovelle (1926); the novel Treffpunkt im Unendlichen (1932), which is based on personal problems partly deriving from his homosexuality, is the last work of fiction before his exile, where he wrote his more important works. The novel Symphonie pathétique (1935) has Tchaikovsky as its subject, Mephisto. Roman einer Karriere (1936, reissued 1981) a sensitive political theme; its central figure, the actor Hendrik Höfgen, represents a formerly left-wing artist and intellectual, who compromises with the National Socialist regime for the sake of his career. Because of the resemblance of Höfgen's personality and career to Gründgens, legal problems delayed the work's reissue; despite Mann's denial it is considered to be a roman-à-clef on prominent actors and National Socialists. It has also attracted attention as a play (1979 in Paris) and as a film (1981, directed by the Hungarian I. Szabo). Der Vulkan. Roman unter Emigranten (1939) depicts the life and background of a variety of emigrants to Western European countries and the effect which the apocalyptic political mood (the volcano) has on their characters. In 1943 appeared his study André Gide and the Crisis of Modern Thought, published in revised form in German as André Gide—Die Geschichte eines Europäers (1948), and as André Gide und die Krise des modernen Denkens (1966).
Klaus Mann was conscious of being overshadowed by his father, which contributed to his tendency towards self-analysis and his awareness of belonging to a new generation. He entitled his early autobiography Kind dieser Zeit (1932); he resumed it ten years later by beginning again with his childhood and reviewing the experiences of the past. In The Turning Point. Thirty-five Years in this Century (1942) the first turning-point came when Klaus and Erika Mann urged their parents to remain in Switzerland, where they were on holiday (February 1933); it was the beginning of emigration. The next, with which the book closes, denotes the beginning of America's involvement in the war. The German version, Der Wendepunkt (1952, revised and extended), ends with a new turning-point, the victory of the Allied forces with which Mann served (in 1944 he had participated in the Italian campaign); but his relief was tempered by the onset of the cold war. During the years of opposition to fascism Mann had also made the promotion of German culture his special task, to which he devoted numerous essays as well as the volume Escape to Life. Deutsche Kultur im Exil, which, first published in English in 1939 and written in collaboration with Erika Mann, appeared in German in 1991 (ed. H. Hoven).
Gesammelte Werke in Einzelausgaben appeared 1963 ff., two volumes of essays, Prüfungen. Schriften zur Literatur and Heute und morgen. Schriften zur Zeit (from 1922-49), 1968-9, the essay Die Heimsuchung des europäischen Geistes in 1973, correspondence, Briefe und Antworten, in 1975, the collection Abenteuer des Brautpaars. Die Erzählungen in 1976,
