In Doctor Faustus, his last major novel, Thomas Mann attempted to interpret and judge Germany's role in European culture and history since the Reformation. Through the figures of the solitary avant-garde composer, Adrian Leverk?hn, and his often bemused biographer Serenus Zeitblom, Mann explores Germany's self-understanding and self-assertion. The novel intermingles fiction and history in a narrative that combines complex psychological analysis, virtuoso...