The Representation of Medicine in Literature and Fine Art

Davoser Literaturtage

The Davos Literature Festival seeks to uncover profound and far-reaching connections between Mann’s literary works and the natural sciences. Taking a unique interdisciplinary outlook, Davoser Literaturtage actively encourages the consideration of Thomas Mann’s work from a variety of perspectives. Past symposia pay eloquent testimony to the fact that such dialogue across the disciplines is a very fruitful one indeed.

The Academic Committee of the Davos Literature Festival. 

The academic committee is responsible for the programme of the Davoser Literatur- und Kulturtage and is supported in its efforts by an organisation committee.

The administrative realisation resides with Davos Tourismus.

Academic Committee members:

• Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Koopmann, Universität Augsburg
• PD Dr. Thomas Rütten, University of Newcastle
• PD Dr. Thomas Sprecher, Thomas-Mann-Archiv der ETH Zürich

• Prof. Dr. Ruprecht Wimmer, Katholische Universität Eichstätt

The Davoser Literatur- und Kulturtage are generously supported by the Thomas Mann Archive at ETH Zurich, a regular participant since the very first Zauberberg Symposium in 1994, and the Zurich Thomas Mann Gesellschaft. Currently, the main sponsor is Die Stadt-Kellerei, Basel.

1.2.1 The forthcoming conference:

In 2012 the Davos Literature Festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary in the Schatzalp Hotel in Davos, 6 - 10 August 2012.  For more information, please download the 2012 Thomas Mann Flyer (PDF: 439KB)

1.2.2 The most recent conference:

Along with Dr Martina King, Dr Rütten presented their paper Vom “heiligen Schwips”: Medizinisches Wissen und kunstreligiöse Tradition in den Inspirationsszenarien von “Zauberberg” und “Doktor Faustus” at the 2010 Davos Literature Festival’s Thomas Mann and Religion Conference, which Dr Rütten also co-organised as a member of its Academic Committee.

For more information, please download the 2010 Davos Programme (PDF: 203KB).

1.2.3 Past Conferences:

It all began in the early 1990s, when, during a private conversation, a medical man and a German philologist hit upon the idea of organising a conference on The Magic Mountain at Davos that would bring together medical professionals and literary historians. The idea soon became reality: at the 1994 Zauberberg Symposium, physicians and literary experts gathered to engage in an intensive and fruitful dialogue that continues to this day. Up until this point, Thomas Mann’s works had been studied almost exclusively by literary critics; now, it was suddenly possible to uncover profound and far-reaching connections between Mann’s literary works and the natural sciences (and medicine in particular), resulting in a veritable paradigm shift in Mann scholarship.

With more than 600 delegates, the first symposium proved a resounding success. Suddenly, Mann’s The Magic Mountain shone in an entirely different and hitherto completely unknown light. The dialogue between literary criticism and medicine was so successful that further conferences followed: What about Thomas Mann’s pre-Magic Mountain output? (“Auf dem Weg zum Zauberberg. Die Davoser Literaturtage 1996”); and what about his later works? (“Vom Zauberberg zum Doktor Faustus. Die Davoser Literaturtage 1998”). The ailments and diseases of the turn of the century are all present in Thomas Mann’s works (“Literatur und Krankheit im fin-de-siècle [1890-1914]. Die Davoser Literaturtage 2000”), but those afflicted or affected by them also always entertain, in Mann’s world, an intimate relationship with life itself: hence, the Davoser Literaturtage 2002 were held under the motto “Lebenszauber und Todesmusik“. If the 2002 conference had mainly focused on Mann’s novels, the 2004 gathering took a closer look at the novellas (“Liebe und Tod – in Venedig und anderswo“). In 2006, the conference put the human sciences centre stage: under the title “Was war das Leben? Man wußte es nicht!”, physicians, biologists and literary scholars gathered to discuss these weighty questions. The key note address was delivered by Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen. In 2008, the conference „Vom Herzasthma des Exils“, considered, not least from a medical perspective, the illnesses and ailments of the period of exile. Even in 2010 when the conference theme was "Thomas Mann and religion", medical aspects in Thomas mann's work remained a focus of attention.

All across Thomas Mann’s œuvre, literature and the natural sciences are linked with one another

in the closest manner conceivable. The Davossymposia take account of this fact and are not just literary colloquia as they take place by the dozen in all sorts of locations every year. What makes the Davoser Literaturtage unique is their essentially interdisciplinary outlook and the fact that they actively encourage consideration of Thomas Mann’s work from a variety of perspectives, not just the literary one. Past symposia pay eloquent testimony to the fact that such dialogue across the disciplines is a very fruitful one indeed. It allows us all to take a fresh look at Thomas Mann and his work.

The audience at the opening of the 9th Davos Literature Festival

The exhibition on Varian Fry shown at the 2008 conference was sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.

The conference proceedings were prepared for publication by Dr Katrin Bedenig (TMA) and edited by Thomas Sprecher: Thomas Mann und das "Herzasthma des Exils. (Über-)Lebensformen in der Fremde. Die Davoser Literaturtage 2008 (Frankfurt a. M.: Vittorio Klostermann, 2010) (= Thomas-Mann-Studien, vol. 42).

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