Resumo de He Magic Mountain

Georg Hegel, the German philosopher, developed what is known as the dialectical concept. Hegel wanted to produce a philosophy that would embody both the ideas of the past, based upon Aristotle's classical logic of an either/or and a thesis/antithesis philosophy and a new idea of a syntheses containing the elements of all. In Hegel's exlanation of this new philosophy, which was based upon Plato's dualism of being and becoming, the syntheses is produced by the conflict of opposites; the thesis, which could represent an idea or even a historical or creative movement, and the anithesis, which could represent a paradoxical idea or movement. These two opposites could also sylmbolize the self and the other, or the conscious and unconscious states of being. This process is an open-ended one, constantly evolving and growing and balancing one idea or proces with the other. The new reality or synthesis arises from the two opposing views, containing truth from both elements.

In Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, the dialectical process is worked out in several different scenearios; first in the life of the protagonist, a young German by the name of Hans Castorp. Castorp is characterized as being an ordinary young man. Hans is a typical young German; he possesses a keen and rational mind, runs a lucrative shipbuilding business and is in fairly good health. When Hans decides to visit his cousin Joachim in a renown sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, his life changes dramatically. Joachim is a soldier and is recuperating from an illness.

Most people who are staying in the Berghoff are recovering from serious and not-so-serious illnesses. The dialectial situation that creates a problem for Hans is the concept of time. Hans assumes that he will be staying at the Berghoff for only three weeks and then he will be bringing his cousin to the lowlands. However, Joachim enlightens Hans about the concept of time at the Berghoff. It seems, that time stands still here in the Alps and everyone has to adjust to it. Time is measured with swift movements in the lowlands, which is the thesis; however, time seems to stand still in the mountains, the anithesis. This comes at a shock to Hans but he eventually accepts this fact while at the Berghoff.

Another major diadactical in Magic Mountain is the conscious self (mind) vs. the unconscious or spiritual self. Hans, the embodiment of the r ational, has encountered an irrational, in the form of one lovely lady, Clavdia Chauchat. Clavdia reminds Hans of an old boyhood friend named Pribislav Hippe. Han's relationship with Hippe was a boyhood crush of sorts, an unusual emotional connection with Hippe. Chauchat evokes this romantic emotion by her resemblance to Hippe. Clavdia introduces Hans to the world of the imagination, the world of emotional intensity, dreams and visions. She is an irritating, emotional and beautiful woman, the very opposite of Hans. Hans, with his upbringing of German religious manners and respectablility is constantly clashing with Mme. Chauchat who is Russian with seeminingly no manners at all. Although Hans is, at times, greatly frustrated with her, she also becomes the object of his sexual musings and dreams. Hans does take these emotional and sexual experiences with him when he leaves the mountain, forever changed by them. These experiences become a synthesis for him.

Thomas Mann embodies, in this novel, one of the major philosophical beliefs of his day. Hegel greatly influenced Mann with the dialectical system of belief. In Magic Mountain, Mann creates a Nordic, mystical world on the mountaintops of the Swiss Alps. Here the climate changes greatly from the lowlands. Here the very atmosphere can change nly from a pristine and sunny daa threatening whirlwind of blinding snow and ice. Also, mystical visions and apparitions are common in these blinding snowstorms, where life is threatened to the point of death even while one feels an incredible peace, which is what Hans has already experienced in this world. Everything is different in the mountains, one's perspective allows for these wondrous changes. Especially if one is looking for a new experience, a new life or a renewal of the old one.

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