Thomas Mann's undiscovered masterpiece

Barcelona"I'm used to releasing a finished work with a shrug of resignation, with no confidence in its potential for dissemination," he wrote. Thomas Mann (Lübeck, 1875 - Zurich, 1955) to Summary of my life, in Spanish in Nórdica, translated by Isabel Hernández. Mann wrote this short text – it doesn't exceed a hundred pages – on the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, still in the midst of the international expansion of The Magic Mountain, which in the author's words had achieved "a curious success", "less epic" than that of his "youth novel", The Buddenbrooks (1901; in Catalan in Navona, translated by Joan Fontcuberta): at just 25 years old, Mann had already become a literary star, and between this book and The Magic Mountain (1924; in Catalan to Navona, translated by Carme Gala) had built a robust literary career, displayed both in novels and in stories and essays.

After climbing the thousand pages starring Hans Castorp in the sanatorium near Davos, Mann took a breath before daring to reach a higher peak. The project involved undertaking a journey to Ancient Egypt and living, between 1926 and 1943, with Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Esau, Dinah and the rest of the biblical characters of Joseph and his brothersPublished in four volumes, the novel turns 24 chapters of the Genesis which add up to twenty pages in a monumental work that exceeds 2,000. Mann began it in Germany, continued it in Switzerland, and finished it in the midst of World War II in American exile.

A madness dreamed up ten years ago

Over eight decades, the "pyramid" of Joseph and his brothers It has been translated into some twenty languages. Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Mann's birth, Comanegra will publish it in Catalan for the first time. "We've been working here for ten years, and this dream was already in our heads," comment Alba Cayón and Jordi Puig of the publishing house. "We knew we needed to mature as editors to make something like this a reality." Joseph and his brothers It's one of the best books we've ever read. A gigantic work. And we don't say that just because of its length, but because of how it's written and the story it tells." Translate the entire work. Joseph and his brothers –Cayón and Puig continue–. In Spanish, the last edition was completed by five translators. And it was published over eleven years, between 2000 and 2011." After racking their brains for days, they dialed the number of their first choice, "a translator with a daring but renowned resume." It was Ramon Monton (Sabadell, 1959), who for more than three decades Canetti, Stefan Zweig, Herta Müller, Robert Walser and Siegfried Lenz. "When they called me from Comanegra, the proposal made me very respectful, because Joseph and his brothers "It's a complex and, at times, dense novel," he recalls. "But in the end, another element weighed more heavily on my assessment: it's a magnificent work. I couldn't let that opportunity slip away." Monton began working on the project three years ago. "I dedicate myself from Monday to Sunday, as many hours as it takes, to meet the objectives I've set for myself," he admits. "I don't consider a translated sentence to be good until I've read it aloud and it passes my exam."

Before reconstructing Mann's "pyramid" in Catalan, Ramon Monton has taken on large-scale projects over the last fifteen years, such as Wolf among wolves, by Hans Fallo (1984 Editions, 2012); The forty days of Musa Dagh, by Franz Werfel (1984 Editions), and Henry the Green, by Gottfried Keller (Adesiara, 2022). "The original of Joseph and his brothers "It is, literally, of great elegance," he says. "One of my goals is to reproduce in Catalan all the beauty of the novel. Also the irony: at times it is very funny."

"I agree that Joseph and his brothers It is one of Thomas Mann's peaks, along with The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus [1949; in Catalan in Navona, translated by Joan Fontcuberta]", says Maria Siguan, professor emeritus of German literature at the University of Barcelona. "It is a novel written partly in exile, and Mann uses a sacred theme to narrate the experience of having to go to another place due to historical circumstances", explains Sigua.The memory of violence in literature, Icaria, 2022). According to Siguan, Mann's interest in reformulating a myth is found since Death in Venice [1912; in Catalan in Navona, translated by Joan Fontcuberta] and reaches Doctor Faustus: "Mann considers that myths are bearers of truths or essences of humanity. If the Faustus look at Goethe, Joseph and his brothers proposes to return to the first of the books of the Old Testament."

From favorite son to slave

He Genesis explains how Joseph grows up as the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob. To rid himself of them, his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he eventually ends up imprisoned. After correctly interpreting the pharaoh's dreams, Joseph becomes second-in-command in Egypt and ends up saving the country during a bloody bout of famine. "Thomas Mann makes Joseph an extremely repellent protagonist in some episodes. Even so, he also inspires pity and empathy in the reader," says Jordi Puig. "One of the themes that runs through the novel is that of feeling like the chosen one," adds Alba Cayón. "Mann incisively asks himself, through his characters, whether this idea of being the chosen one isn't cooked up." "In the question of whether God created man or man as God, Mann comes to the conclusion that they mutually created each other," summarizes Ramon Monton.

When Mann began publishing Joseph and his brothers In German in 1933, it had only been four years since he had been awarded the Nobel Prize, but the country had changed a lot. "Since Hitler came to power, Mann was already a living dead man in his own country," the editors say. "In his diary he writes that in the mornings he devoted himself to Joseph and his brothers and in the afternoon he would go to give lectures against Hitler." He continued this task, begun in Switzerland, during his exile in the United States, in the radio broadcasts recorded in Hey, Germans! (In Margen, 2025; translated by Luis Tobío), where you can read: "From the first day I have worked with all my soul to defeat that monster, the shame of humanity."

"Thomas Mann endows the myth with psychology, the archetypes take on human relief, and the group of characters that revolve around Josep become heroes of an epic that swings between adventure novel, coming-of-age novel, and philosophical novel." "Although in the novel Mann talks about Egypt, in many chapters you end up seeing a parallel with the historical situation of the moment," they continue. "The story it tells has less to do with belief than with the cultural sediment that the Bible has left us. It is not necessary to be linked to the biblical world because Joseph and his brothers catch you." Both the editors and the translator are enthusiastic about the project. "Mann's style is sacredly perfect, José", comments Ramon Monton. Marisa Siguan, who has fond memories of the translator as a student at the University of Barcelona, ​​​​also highlights the novel's form: "The style and language are impressive and very elaborate. If you're lucky enough to be captivated by it, the experience is very good."

Comanegra's intention is to put the four volumes into circulation at the same time, before Christmas: they will be sold together and separately. "The great intrigue is how readers will react," say Cayón and Puig. "When the novel began to be published, it was already outside the frenetic pace of the 1930s." Perhaps Joseph's adventures in Ancient Egypt are so far removed from our reality that they end up becoming a tempting refuge where one can take shelter during the hours of demanding reading it promises. ~BK_L