''The Black Swan'' () is a German novella written by
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
, first published in 1954.
A period work, it takes place in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, Germany, in the mid-1920s.
Plot summary
Rosalie, a 50-year-old widow, finds her youthful manner diminished by the "organic phenomena of her time of life," or
menopause
Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medical professionals often ...
. She lives with her adult unmarried daughter and an adolescent son, both of whom juxtapose youth to her "superannuated" purpose in life.
The family hires a young, American-born man to tutor for her son. Rosalie is strongly attracted to him and is soon infatuated. Her daughter disapproves more strongly now of her still socializing mother. Then, seemingly miraculously, Rosalie's menopause reverses. Where her vitality, and sexual awareness would be in decline, she is in a heightened state of sexual awareness including the return of menstrual bleeding.
Rosalie plans a family trip and declares her intentions and availability to the young man. They plan a liaison in the Rhine castle ''
Schloss Benrath
Schloss Benrath (Benrath Palace) is a Baroque-style ''maison de plaisance'' (pleasure palace) in Benrath, which is now a borough of Düsseldorf. It was erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodor and his wife, Countess Palatine Elisabeth ...
'', but it never takes place. She is later found in her bed unconscious due to a hemorrhage caused by what would soon prove to be a fatal
metastatic
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
tumor in her
uterus
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...
.
The surgeons' commentary include a discussion on the possible causes of Rosalie's newfound youth. Cancer was an obvious cause of her tumor, but one doctor insinuates that it could have been the yearning for love and her altered or re-awakened erotic personality that stimulated her ovaries thereby causing the
cancerous growth.
Themes
The setting for the story and Europe in transition after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
creates the old-fashioned and modern age comparisons which are developed strongly in the characters of Rosalie's family. The graphic descriptions in female biology, symbolic and overt sexuality and death create a dark picture for life's twilight. He revisits mortality and like ''
Death in Venice
''Death in Venice ''(German: ''Der Tod in Venedig'') is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Poli ...
'', of 1912, comments on societal attitudes and age. As in that work, Rosalie dies before any interest is consummated.
Cultural impact
It stands as one of the first works to bring hard medicine into popular culture.
See also
External links
Medicalisation of falling in love: medical students' responses to Thomas Mann's ''The Black Swan''
Novellas by Thomas Mann
1954 novels
Fiction set in the 1920s
Historical short stories
Secker & Warburg books
Düsseldorf
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