Sunday notes

An invitation, a poem, a video

Dear Reader,

Are you feeling a bit under the weather?
Are you seeking a diagnosis for what ails?
Looking for a bit of escapism?

I invite you to join me on a seven-week journey to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, which may well end up lasting more than seven weeks.

---

How I Discovered The Magic Mountain

When I first read The Magic Mountain a few years ago, I was recovering from a terrible illness that defied diagnosis. It felt as though someone had detached my head from my body, leaving me to wander through the world in a state of permanent exhaustion. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t look at a computer screen. The moment I tried, my brain would scramble.

I found myself lying listlessly on a friend’s bed, contemplating how long I could go on like this—present in the world, but unable to be part of it. In desperation, I tried listening to an audio book of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. By the end, I had miraculously come back to life.

And my diagnosis? A massive episode of burnout and anxiety.

It’s not as romantic as it sounds. I had isolated myself on a Greek island to finish a novel, a book of poems, and to begin writing a nonfiction book about loneliness—all in one month. Whatever remnants of my Protestant schooling remained were gone, undoing the belief that the harder I worked and suffered, the better off I would be. The demands of modern life that I placed on myself were quite literally killing me.

I asked one question: “How to repair the mind-body relationship?”

My simple question marked the beginning of a two-year journey—out of isolation, out of loneliness, and toward finally learning how to listen to myself.

Since then, I’ve taught two courses on The Magic Mountain, helped create an event at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles celebrating the book, and recently finished a 6,000-word essay on the novel. I’ll also be teaching a five-week course at the 92nd Street Y this January. (You can enroll for that course here.)

---

What This Is (and What It Isn’t)

This is not a class.

It is a guided reading—a space to read together in community.

I hope it will also serve as a bit of encouragement for those who have always wanted to read The Magic Mountain but haven’t found the time. (What is the inner organ that measures time?)

Over the course of seven weeks, I’ll share context, historical materials, and a look inside the two sanatoriums that inspired Mann’s epic work: the Waldhotel and the Schatzalp.

---

How it works:

Over the course of 7 weeks we’ll read The Magic Mountain together. Mann said you must read it twice, so if you’ve already read it once and want to return, please come!

That is ~17.4 pages of reading per day. (I also highly recommend the audio book if you are in a place where reading 854 pages feels too overwhelming right now. It’s an excellent narration.)

There will be seven installments posted here.

• Tuesday November 19th: Foreword and Chapter 1

• Tuesday November 26th: Chapter 2

• Tuesday December 3rd: Chapter 3

• Tuesday December 10th: Chapter 4

• Tuesday December 17th: Chapter 5

• Tuesday December 24th: Chapter 6

• Tuesday December 31st: Chapter 7

You’ll be invited to join three live Zoom meetings to discuss the book together. (The sign-up link for these meetings will be included in the first email on Tuesday November 19th.)

• Sunday November 23rd from 3pm to 4:30pm EST

• Sunday December 7th from 3pm to 4:30pm EST

• Sunday December 21st from 3pm to 4:30pm EST

And, I will create a thread for those who read along so we can touch in and share favorite passages, ask questions, or reflect on what’s happening in the novel.

This will be paywalled, so If you’d like to join, but the monthly subscription cost of $5.00 is too much, please write to me and I will gift you a subscription. I never want money to be a barrier. And if you want to sign-up or convert your subscription for two months and then cancel—that’s perfectly okay, too! All support is greatly appreciated. If you’re already a paying subscriber, then you’re all set.

---

And now, onto other matters.

For your Sunday, one of my first loves, D.H. Lawrence:

---

And Susan Sontag on Illness as Metaphor:

---

Until soon,

Sam