«Goethe hat alles gesagt»: J. W. von Goethe in Thomas Mann’s letters

The article focuses on the analysis of Thomas Mann’s letters which mention J. W. von Goethe who had a substantial influence on the writer’s personality and literary works. The interest in Goethe initially arose in the context of the problems that interested Mann (problems of eroticism, the nature of creativity, genius), and became the basis of the short stories "A Weary Hour" and "Death in Venice". The timing of most citations and allusions to Goethe often overlaps with the anniversaries of the Weimar classic (1932, 1949) and the period during which Mann was working on "Lotte in Weimar" (1936–1939). The purpose of this article is to systematize the numerous references to Goethe in Mann's letters, to describe the dynamics of Goethe's image and the process of turning it into the author's myth. The methodological basis of the article is the historical and literary approach, in which the analysis of Th. Mann's letters is carried out. Some excerpts from Mann’s letters are presented in Russian translation for the first time. The writer's interest in mythology and psychoanalysis during the years of work on the novel "Lotte in Weimar" significantly influenced some aspects of Goethe's image in his perception. The letters showcase the writer's enthusiasm for life-creation and a tendency to construct the myth of Goethe as well as his own myth as Goethe’s successor. The analysis of the letters allows to trace how the writer's perception of Goethe's personality changed over time (from 1910 to 1955) — from the Apollonian image of the "Olympian" and the divine "child of nature" to the dual figure of the "demonic" genius, torn by the contradictions of his own artistic nature.

Thomas Mann, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, letters, Lotte in Weimar, author’s myth, imitatio Goethe’s, life-creation, A Weary Hour, Death in Venice, Doctor Faustus