MARTIN LUTHER AND REFORMATION IN THE EARLY WORKS OF THOMAS MANN

Annotation

The article is the first chapter of a two-part study and is devoted to the portrayal of Martin Luther and the Reformation in the early, “apolitical” period of Thomas Mann’s work (before 1922–1924). This issue remains virtually unexplored in Russian scholarship, despite the fundamental importance of the reformer to understanding Mann’s concept of the German spirit. In the writer’s artistic and journalistic works, Luther appears as a key figure, allowing one to reveal the essence of Germany and its place in world history. The evolution of Mann’s attitude toward Luther is directly related to the change in his political views and can be divided into two stages. In the early period preceding Germany’s defeat in World War I, the writer portrays Luther mostly in a positive light, which is especially evident in “Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man”, where the reformer becomes a symbol of German introspection and spiritual resistance to Western civilization. This image reflects the anti-democratic views of the young Mann and his concept of a “protest” German culture set against European rationalism. The second stage, which can be roughly described as “from Luther to Hitler”, is characterized by a rethinking of the Reformation’s legacy and an emphasis on its negative aspects.

Keywords

Thomas Mann, Martin Luther, Reformation, German national idea, apoliticism, protestantism, lutheranism

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The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation № 25–28–00319,
https://rscf.ru/en/project/25–28–00319/; Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after
Fyodor Dostoevsky