'Exploring the Dark': Thomas Mann reads Freud

This lecture examines the intellectual relationship between Thomas Mann and Sigmund Freud: it looks at moments of direct engagement, such as Mann's writing on Freud, and at the commonalities between the two thinkers, which transcend mere influence. The psychological and analytical acuity of Mann's work predates his reading of Freud, but he displayed great sympathy with the tenets of psychoanalysis, recognizing it as a radically new mode of thinking. The lecture postulates that, despite the occasional misunderstanding, Mann and Freud are kindred thinkers, not least in the sanguine pessimism ('lebensfreundlicher Pessimismus'), which they both share with Schopenhauer.