Castorp

by Pawel Huelle

Translated from the original Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Picking up on a throwaway line in The Magic Mountain, Castorp tells the story of Hans Castorp’s student years in Gdansk, long before the adventures in Davos described in Thomas Mann’s novel. Pawel Huelle skilfully creates a credible scenario for this influential period in Hans Castorp’s development, imagining what happened when the rational German student was exposed to the Slavonic eastern edge of the Prussian empire. He comes across people, events and ideas that anticipate some of the encounters he will experience in years to come, including an enigmatic Polish woman who becomes his obsession.

Set at the dawn of the twentieth century, Castorp faithfully recreates the atmosphere of central Europe as the storm began that would lead to two world wars. Beautifully written, full of humour, mystery and eccentricity, this is a moving tribute to a masterpiece of European literature.

(From Publisher).

Pawel Huelle was born in 1957. The author of Who Is David Weiser?, Huelle is a novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived most of his life in Gdansk. His latest novel Castorp was published in Poland in 2004.

A story about a student's life at the beginning of the 20th century in Danzig, a city both Polish and German. A story about a felling that is hard to control. A story about the dark side of life. The author refers in a magnificent way to Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountains".