Thomas Mann - Isn't it grand, isn't it good, that language has only

Isn't it grand, isn't it good, that language has only one word for everything we associate with love - from utter sanctity to the most fleshly lust? The result is perfect clarity in ambiguity, for love cannot be disembodied even in its most sanctified forms, nor is it without sanctity even at its most fleshly. Love is always simply itself, both as a subtle affirmation of life and as the highest passion; love is our sympathy with organic life.

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Citations

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter, Alfred A. Knopf, 1927, p. 598.

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About the Author

Thomas Mann

Born: June 6, 1875
Died: August 12, 1955
Nationality: German
Profession: Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist

Biography

Paul Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized versions of German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arthur Schopenhauer.

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