"A great many false ideas have been spread about the nature of boredom"
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, pg 102
Don't be fooled by this quote, I'm not bored by this book. In fact, as someone who is very interested in 'the nature of boredom', I'm quite enjoying this slow-paced novel (though it is light speed compared to Karamazov). The sentence I've quoted is part of a wordier section discussing the passage of time - the quickness or slowness of it, depending on the type of activity or task being conducted. I think it's an apt quote for a novel set in a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps. Quoting from the back cover "To this hermetic yet intrigue-ridden world comes Hans Castorp, a 'perfectly ordinary' young man who arrives for a short visit and ends up staying seven years". Ain't that the truth.
So far there hasn't been any magic (well it is called The Magic Mountain). I was hoping for some wizards or fairies, maybe even a troll. So far there's just been tuberculosis, although I guess this could be considered a kind of troll. There is sex, alluded to, rather than graphically described: "...and beyond any doubt, the game had turned bestial" pg 38 - BESTIAL! there's a word I've never used in polite conversation, or ever. But the first 100 pages of The Magic Mountain has not disappointed, it has been both literary and weird, qualities I look for in the novels I choose for my "special reading project".
Note: The edition I'm reading has been translated by John E. Woods.
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