Here in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain is Settembrini instructing his protégé:
Analysis as an instrument of enlightenment and civilization is good, in so far as it shatters absurd convictions, acts as a solvent upon natural prejudices, and undermines authority. . . . But it is bad, very bad, in so far as it stands in the way of action, cannot shape the vital forces, maims life at its roots. Analysis can be a very unappetizing affair, as much so as death, with which it may well belong – allied to the grave and its unsavory anatomy.
(Quoted from page 63 of Resisting History: Religious Transcendence and the Invention of the Unconscious, by Rhodri Hayward. Manchester University Press, 2007.)
For a brief biography of Thomas Mann, click here. For images of or relating to Thomas Mann, click here. For a brief biography of Rhodri Hayward, click here.
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