Where to begin with Thomas Mann?

>>7733703
ffffucking read book bitch

go for it. they're separate novels. it doesn't matter.

buddenbrooks and/or death in venice.

take a detour with tonio kroger if you like death in venice.

then go magic mountain -> doctor faustus - >joseph and his brothers

his shorter stuff can be sprinkled in where you want depending on interest. mario the magician is a personal favorite, and i think it works well to read it right before doctor faustus.

after that you can explore his other stuff as you see fit. holy sinner and black swan are a bit "out there" and very much involved in mann's particular interests, and felix krull is cool but unfinished

Start with the Greeks.

>>7733877
you should probably read goethe's faust before doctor faustus, and to read goethe's faust you need to go super deep into the greeks and/or have a shitton of annotations and notes desu

know genesis (specifically jacob/joseph stories) really well for joseph and his brothers

He considered Joseph and his brothers his Magnum Opus.

Buddenbrooks was cited for his Nobel.

Magic Mountain is probably his most popular.

No wrong place to start. All are classics.

>>7733897
note that he got his nobel before he wrote magic mountain/joseph/faustus

faustus came after joseph and im of the opinion that's his magnum opus more than joseph. but i could be biased due to subject matter (classical music/art vs. genesis)

I've read most of his works. My favourite is "The Holy Sinner". "Buddenbrooks" is also a suberp work and you can enjoy his short story collections.

Mann, Thomas. Dislike him. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up.