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Buddenbrooks

By Thomas Mann
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Brief Description
The definitive English translation of Mann's first masterpiece—a grand epic of family life. 'I bear within me the seed, the rudiments, the possibility of life's capacities and endeavours. Where might I be, if I were not here?' Buddenbrooks is one of the original, and greatest, of... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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The definitive English translation of Mann's first masterpiece—a grand epic of family life.

'I bear within me the seed, the rudiments, the possibility of life's capacities and endeavours. Where might I be, if I were not here?'

Buddenbrooks is one of the original, and greatest, of family chronicles—the story of four generations of a wealthy and bourgeois German family as they experience all the anguish and rewards of human life: births, marriages, divorces, deaths, madness, bankruptcy, and artistic achievement. Richly realised and profoundly moving, Thomas Mann's first great novel was published when he was only twenty-five and was one of the two books for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929.

John E. Woods' elegant translation is widely acclaimed as the best available English version.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241785409

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 April 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by John E. Woods

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 35.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 500g

Pages: 864

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Thomas Mann

About the Author

Thomas Mann (Author) Thomas Mann (1875-1955) is regarded by many as the greatest German novelist of the 20th century. Mann's first major novel, Buddenbrooks, sold over a million copies in Germany alone, before Hitler banned and burned it. Mann fled Germany and spent the latter part of his life living in Switzerland and America. He wrote many essays as well as novels, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.

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