Judaism via Humanism: Readdressing Thomas Mann’s Purview of Jewishness as Presented in Doctor Faustus

Abstract

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a Nobel Peace Prize-winning author whose portrayal of Jewish peoples in his novels remains a point of great controversy. Scholars today contest whether all modes of his writing are rhetorically anti-semitic on the basis that, regardless of intent or level of irony, Mann employs stereotypes and hyperboles which representationally endanger the diaspora. Critically important as it is, scholars and critics pursue this focus at the expense of overlooking the author’s reverence for Jewish culture, and by proxy, Judaism itself. This essay analyses evidence of this sentiment in Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus (1947), developing a document-discursive analysis to capture new insights into Mann’s idea of Jewish religion