In the Shadow of the Magic Mountain

Book excerpt: In this dual biography of Erika and Klaus Mann, the eldest children of German author Thomas Mann, Andrea Weiss offers a view of the literary and intellectual life, political turmoil, and shifting sexual mores of their time. The book starts with Erika and Klaus's childhood. The account of the make-believe world they created shows an early sign of their talents and of the intensity of their relationship. Both were writers, and performance artists. Erika was known as the founder of a political cabaret in pre-war Berlin. Other themes in the book are their artistic achievements under the shadow of a famous father, their homosexuality, the political commitment as anti-fascists in Nazi Germany, and the exile in the United States in World War II. Klaus later became a heroin addict and commited suicide in 1949.