Introduction

This introductory chapter provides the necessary context for the two protagonists (Arnold Schoenberg and Thomas Mann), as well as the leading supporting figure (Theodor Adorno). It aims to guide readers through the thicket of acquaintances, old grudges and new anxieties, problems of politics and aesthetics that resonate—sometimes faintly, sometimes clearly—between the lines in the essays and exchanges gathered in this volume. These are, after all, one reason scholars, students, and lay readers have returned to the Faustus controversy time and time again. The other is that rarely has a literary controversy spoken so directly to a unique place and time: Faustus could not have been written, and Faustus could not have generated the controversy that it did, outside of the highly peculiar setting of Southern California during the Second World War.

Appendices

This section presents an appendix of original essays and writings by Arnold Schoenberg, Thomas Mann, and Theodor Adorno that are referenced in the letters and diaries.

Additional Reading

This chapter presents a firsthand account by Arnold Schoenberg's assistant Richard Hoffmann and an analytical essay by Bernhold Schmid. Among the anecdotes that Hoffmann shares is how he was requested to record those sections of Doctor Faustus which dealt, in some way, with music, and how Schoenberg would smile in appreciation as he played and replayed these excerpts at his leisure. Schmid's essay deals with the long and bitter dispute between Arnold Schoenberg and Thomas Mann. The dispute is structured into two phases: one concerns the private sphere, which ended with a postscript added to Doctor Faustus by Mann, and Schoenberg's letter of thanks; and the other the public sphere, initiated by Schoenberg with a letter to the Saturday Review of Literature, which resulted in the press engaging in the dispute.

Letters, Diaries, etc. (1948–1951)

This section presents the letters, excepts from diaries, and other materials exchanged and/or written after Thomas Mann's delivery of a copy of Doctor Faustus to Arnold Schoenberg in January of 1948.

Letters, Diaries, etc. (1930–1948)

This section presents the letters, excerpts from diaries, and other materials exchanged and/or written before Thomas Mann's delivery of a copy of Doctor Faustus to Arnold Schoenberg in January of 1948.