Thomas Mann: Royal Highness

[Colette Jones]

I think there are a few of us reading this together, comprising a group read. I hope so. I have read one chapter (The Constriction) and quite like it so far. I have the Minerva copy from 1997.

It says:
Translated from the German by A. Cecil Curtis
Fully revised by Constance McNab

What is meant by revised in this context?

[Eric]

What it probably means, Colette, is that the publishing house is doing it on the cheap. It doesn't want to spend the money on a new translation, but may want to circumvent various copyright clauses. So if the text is a bit new, but they don't have to pay the translator for all the words, they will save money.

Various things can be revised, but what may happen is that some parts, regarded as too old-fashioned, are updated. Even when Penguin or Minerva do it, there is a whiff of cost-cutting.

I believe that the original "A. Cecil Curtis" could in fact have been a woman. I've not discovered what the "A" stands for, but this was in the days when they tried to turn women into men, because this would sell books better. She also translated from Danish, but it looks as if she could have taken her husband's double-barrelled name. This is all speculation, as Google reveals virtually nothing. But there's something funny going on, when the translator appears to have no biography on Google.

Constance McNab seems equally hard to pin down when Googling. Whether these are all pseudonyms I cannot tell. This latter name is associated with the military historian Liddell Hart.

But everything is vague.

[Colette Jones]

Interesting, Eric. I quite like the idea that the translator is a woman. A quick check on amazon tells me she also translated books by Arthur Emanuel Christensen (Danish?). No wiki help for him either!

This edition has a postscript by Constance McNab which is not dated and is biographical in nature rather than discussing what she did to "revise" the book. There are not any footnotes on the pages, which I am glad of, but they could have given clues as to what she revised.

Further searches show that Constance McNab was also a translator, e.g. Michelangelo [by] Rolf Schott. So did she revise the translation, I wonder!

[Colette Jones]

Some lost posts, so a summary from memory of who is planning to join in:

Mirabell, Colette Jones, Beth, Lizzy Siddal, Sybarite.

Mirabell offered a schedule which started with Prelude, Chapter One and Chapter Two starting from tomorrow 29th December until 2nd January. I do not remember the rest but I am sure Mirabell will.

[titania7]

Colette,
Add me to the list of those participating in the Royal Highness group read. Mirabell and I have already been in touch about it, and, being quite a devotee of Mann's work already, I simply can't wait!

Holiday best,
Titania

[Colette Jones]

Excellent. If you had replied before I apologize for missing you out. I am still getting used to who's who around here as I haven't read enough of the threads to be able to put personality to names. In hindsight, I think it was you and not Sybarite. ?

[Sybarite]

I've just started this morning – bang on Mirabell's schedule!

I remember that we're looking at a week for the first two chapters, but how are we actually going to organise discussion?

[Colette Jones]

Originally Posted by Sybarite

I've just started this morning – bang on Mirabell's schedule!

I remember that we're looking at a week for the first two chapters, but how are we actually going to organise discussion?

Good question! I'll just throw out a general comment while we're thinking about that. I enjoyed the book, and thought that the first chapter (The Constriction - what a title!) set the tone perfectly.

[Sybarite]

After this evening, I won't be around until late Friday, so please don't take my absence from the start of this discussion as an indication that I'm not participating. I've already read the first part, am enjoying it thus far and will attempt to keep some vaguely coherent thoughts in mind until I get back.

[LizzySiddal]

I will be lagging behind - preparing for my face-to-face book group on the 12th and the Ammaniti event on the 14th. But, I promise, I'll make up for lost time after that.

Mirabell, would you please republish the reading schedule. Thanks.

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by LizzySiddal

Mirabell, would you please republish the reading schedule. Thanks.

He said he wouldn't be back until next year, I think. But I did find the dates in Google's cache:

• Mo.29th-Fr.2nd: Prologue + Chapter1 + chapter 2 (39 pages)
• Sa3rd-We7th: Chapter3 + Chapter 4 (73 pages)
• Th8th-Mo12th: Chapter5 + Chapter 6 (61 pages)
• Tu13th-Sa17th: Chapter 7 (103 pages)
• Su18th-Th22nd: Chapter 8+9 (76 pages)

[Sybarite]

Many thanks for that, Stewart – and Mirabell.

[Beth]

Schlosshing around a bit this morning and found this discussion of whether to incorporate the Schloss design into a Berlin construction project. It seems even the architecture of Klaus Heinrich's birth sets him up for Constriction.

[Colette Jones]

In chapter one, the Grand Duke states:

"Nobody is to blame, it is a misfortune; but misfortunes for which nobody is to blame are the most terrible of misfortunes, and the sight of their Sovereign ought to awaken in his people other feelings than those of sympathy."

At the birth of his son, his foremost thoughts are those of show. Is this the real constriction which Klaus Heinrich is born into?

[Beth]

I think it is, CJ, (to carry that constricting theme a bit further). The whole idea of an imperial line, a prescribed birthplace, the Grand Duke's fury with his advisors and with Grand Duchess Dorothea's gynæcologists. His comment ''But it's unheard of! I cannot understand it! People talk nowadays about heredity,'' speaks to the heart of imperialist thinking? Or is that too broad an interpretation?

[Jayaprakash]

Aha!

I shall join in shortly. Can't promise to keep to any strict schedule though.

[Colette Jones]

Originally Posted by Beth

I think it is, CJ, (to carry that constricting theme a bit further). The whole idea of an imperial line, a prescribed birthplace, the Grand Duke's fury with his advisors and with Grand Duchess Dorothea's gynæcologists. His comment ''But it's unheard of! I cannot understand it! People talk nowadays about heredity,'' speaks to the heart of imperialist thinking? Or is that too broad an interpretation?

I'd forgotten that exchange. He seemed worried about whether he is to be blamed at that point, and to have no one to blame was considered worse. I guess that shows he was thinking about his son more than himself so that's something.

At the risk of getting ahead of the first couple chapters, inheritance seems to be a theme to watch. Klaus Heinrich has inherited lack of choice (a constriction).

[Colette Jones]

Originally Posted by Jayaprakash

Aha!

I shall join in shortly. Can't promise to keep to any strict schedule though.

Great news!

[Sybarite]

First, apologies in advance if I ramble a little – I'm battling a heavy cold, which seems to be my punishment for enjoying a fabulous new year in Amsterdam.

However, on the basis of the first couple of chapters, I think that the "constriction" could be any number of things:

• a symbol of the constrictive nature of being born into a royal family, where duty is placed above all else – and certainly all manner of personal pleasure;

• a symbol of the constrictions of the system of monarchy that exists in the book;

• a symbol of the state of the country in economic and industrial terms (which limits the spending and lifestyle of the ducal family).

The detailed description of the state of the country shows it effectively dying beneath the burdens of being essentially pre-industrial and also (in tandem) of having a very old-fashioned monarchical system. Everything is stagnating (the development of the country has been constricted, if you will).

Other things to note: Mann's plea for tolerance – the local GP is pointedly Jewish and the conversation that he has with the king specifically makes a case for equality etc. Mann himself was very much a friend of Jewish people and a sympathiser with them culturally. Perhaps he also he is drawing the idea that Klaus Heinrich is, like the doctor, an outsider? Perhaps that will become clearer later. There is also an early, fleeting reference to modernity – is this an appeal for such? For a more modern monarchy etc?

The novel was first published a century ago this year, at a time when Mann himself was still very much a monarchist. Side note – the prince's name: 'Klaus' was the name of Mann's three-year-old son and 'Heinrich' was his brother, who hated this novel. The two rowed about it to a great extent – it was one aspect in a split between the pair that took a very long time to heal.

[Colette Jones]

Originally Posted by Sybarite

...
However, on the basis of the first couple of chapters, I think that the "constriction" could be any number of things:

• a symbol of the constrictive nature of being born into a royal family, where duty is placed above all else – and certainly all manner of personal pleasure;

• a symbol of the constrictions of the system of monarchy that exists in the book;

• a symbol of the state of the country in economic and industrial terms (which limits the spending and lifestyle of the ducal family).

...or possibly just a constriction caused by amniotic threads?

Originally Posted by Sybarite

Other things to note: Mann's plea for tolerance – the local GP is pointedly Jewish and the conversation that he has with the king specifically makes a case for equality etc. Mann himself was very much a friend of Jewish people and a sympathiser with them culturally. Perhaps he also he is drawing the idea that Klaus Heinrich is, like the doctor, an outsider? Perhaps that will become clearer later. There is also an early, fleeting reference to modernity – is this an appeal for such? For a more modern monarchy etc?

The novel was first published a century ago this year...

I certainly noticed the Jewish references but thought it was published too early for that to be relevant. ?? It felt oddly prescient.