Buddenbrooks

Thomas Mann's debut novel Buddenbrooks tells the story of the rise and fall of a merchant family from Lübeck. Spanning four generations, it traces the fate of the family as they struggle in vain against the decline of their once-thriving economic and social status: commercial vigor gives way to artistic sensitivity, entrepreneurial pragmatism dissolves into melancholy and self-doubt. Written in 1901 as a social portrait of the founding era, this century-old novel about the transformation of traditions, the struggle for identity, and the loss of security in times of profound upheaval feels more relevant today than ever. "Those who do not know this masterpiece are missing a piece of wisdom." Marcel Reich-Ranicki.