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EXHIBITIONS
Heinrich
Mann: His Final Years
Drawings,
Letters, and Manuscripts
Doheny Memorial
Library
May 3, 1993
- July 15, 1993
Heinrich Mann,
one of the foremost German writers of the twentieth century, lived
almost penniless and seemingly forgotten in Los Angeles for nearly
a decade before his death in 1950. Heinrich Mann was the elder brother
of Nobel Prize winning novelist Thomas Mann. Despite his name and
literary stature, Heinrich Mann remained virtually unknown in this
country. By contrast, in Germany, Heinrich had been both respected
by fellow writers and popular with readers, perhaps even more so than
his brother, in pre-Hitler years.
Heinrich Mann
began actively pursuing a career in writing in the 1890s after failing
as a publisher's apprentice. He first began as a critic and editor,
then turned his talents to short stories and novels. The novel Im
Schlaraffenland (In the Land of Cockaigne), published
in 1901, proved his literary skill. Although he had achieved a degree
of literary success in the period before World War I, his works were
not widely read. Not until Der Untertan (The Patrioteer)
appeared in 1918 did he experience popular success. In the United
States, Mann never gained wide recognition as a writer; and he is
still best known for the 1930 film "The Blue Angel," which was adapted
from his novel Professor Unrat (Small Town Tyrant).
As the Nazis assumed
power in February 1933, Heinrich Mann was one of the first intellectuals
to flee Germany. His close ties to France made his exile in Southern
France relatively easy and allowed him to continue writing for an
appreciative audience. Mann remained in France until the country fell
to German occupation, whereupon Mann and his wife, Nelly, fled Europe.
For Mann, then nearly seventy years old, the escape across the Pyrenees
on foot was extremely arduous. Like most German exiles during World
War II, Mann faced great financial difficulties in the United States.
Away from European soil, he lost much of his sympathetic French audience,
not to mention his larger readership in Germany. Luckily, his first
year in Los Angeles was free of hardship because of a one-year contract
with Warner Brothers Pictures previously arranged for Mann by fellow
exiles. However, after the completion of this contract, and until
his death in 1950, Mann was without a regular salary and was dependent
on assistance from his family and friends. In spite of the difficulties
which he faced, Mann wrote some of his greatest works during his years
in exile, including Die Jugend des Königs Henri Quatre
(1935; Young Henry of Navarre), Der Atem
(1949; The Breath) and his autobiographical Ein
Zeitalter wird besichtigt (1945; An Age is Examined).
The exhibit "Heinrich
Mann: His Final Years. Drawings, Letters, and Manuscripts" presents
a brief glimpse of the man and writer Heinrich Mann. The materials
on display are taken from The University of Southern California's
Department of Special Collections, Cinema-Television Library, and
Doheny Memorial Library. Upon his death, Heinrich Mann's manuscripts
and correspondence went to his longtime friend, Lion Feuchtwanger.
These materials were later given to USC along with Feuchtwanger's
own library and manuscripts. The Heinrich Mann material at USC represents
Mann's period in exile, covering both the years spent in France and
Southern California. On display are examples of his correspondence,
literary manuscripts, and sketches which he drew during the 1940s.
Updated
April 1997. For more information contact the Feuchtwanger
Librarian.
