Between the convention and modernity – from the history of the marriage of Thomas and Katia Manns

Abstract

The article presents original (against a background of the era) character of the marriage of Thomas and Katia Mann. Basing on the memoires and the correspondence of writer’s family members, there are shown the conventional and modern elements of their marital union, in the context of the personal relations, as well as from the perspective of the progeny upbringing model. The structure of the article has got the chronological and problem character. In the first part of the deliberations there is presented the youthful experiences of Thomas Mann and Katia Prings­heim, up to the moment of their entering into marriage (1904). In the second there is analysed the process of the forming of the marital and parental relations of the Manns (1904–1914). The third part of the text presents the evolution of the position of Katia Mann in the couple (1914–1919). In the last part of the article there is done the overall analysis of the character of Thomas and Katia Mann’s marital relations, with the emphasizing of the traditional and the unconventional characteristics of their marriage.