In this episode, translator Simon Pare reads Thomas Mann’s essay »The Dangers Facing Democracy« from »In Defense of Democracy« which compiles all of Thomas Mann's relevant speeches and essays on democracy for the first time in one volume.

"It has become a questionable matter with the self-evidence of democracy around the world." This remark does not stem from a comment on the current political situation but from Thomas Mann's lecture "On the Future Victory of Democracy" from 1938. It's no coincidence that Thomas Mann is being rediscovered in the present as a passionate defender of democracy. He personally experienced how tenuous this form of government and its associated culture can be through the destruction of the Weimar Republic. Thomas Mann remains astoundingly relevant, particularly because he also understands democracy as a way of life: as a practice in gracefully dealing with plurality.

Thomas Mann, (1875 - 1955) is one of the 20th century’s most significant writers. He is credited with bringing the German novel to the international stage, and his multifaceted works have received a worldwide positive reception which has rarely been equalled. From 1933 onwards, he lived in exile, first in Switzerland, then in the US. Only in 1952 did Mann return to Europe, where he died in 1955 in Zurich.

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Credits

Text originally published as “In Defense of Democracy” by Thomas Mann

Read by Simon Pare

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2025

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

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