Great art is born not just of individual genius but from the world it reflects. A strong case can be made that Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, which was published in November 1924, marked the end of an era when a work of literature could claim to encapsulate the entirety of the modern experience. Written in the immediate wake of World War I, at a moment when writers were struggling to make sense of a world shaken by conflict, ideological division and scientific upheavals, the novel offered not simply a story, but a complete worldview, a deep exploration of human existence and an unprecedented engagement with the crises of modernity.
