The Black Swan [Paperback]

Thomas Mann's bold and disturbing novella, written in 1952, is the feminine counterpart of his masterpieceDeath in Venice. Written from the point of view of a woman in what we might now call mid-life crisis,The Black Swanevinces Mann's mastery of psychological analysis and his compelling interest in the intersection of the physical and the spiritual in human behavior. It is startlingly relevant to current discussions of the politics of the body, male inscriptions of the feminine, and discourse about and of women. The new introduction places this dramatic novella in the context of contemporary feminist and literary concerns, bringing it to the attention of a new generation of readers.

Thomas Mann(1875-1955), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, wrote essays as well as some of the great fiction of the twentieth century, includingBuddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Death in Venice, Joseph and His Brothers,andDoctor Faustus.Nina Pelikan Strausteaches in the Humanities program at SUNY, Purchase and has published articles on Mann'sDr. Faustusand Kafka'sMetamorphis.