In addition to his work for the Milan publishing house Adelphi Edizioni, Calasso is known for his study on the role of sacrifice in modernity, for which he frequently turned to examine archaic sources, like Greek and Vedic mythology. During that lecture, while reflecting on Goethe’s Dichtung und Wahrheit (1833) and what it says about the lack of detail in the story of Moses-thus making the case for writing the novel-Mann proudly reminisced how his secretary, tasked with typing the first volume in full, told him: “Now we know at last how all this actually happened.” The Book of All Books, by Roberto Calasso, the Italian writer and publisher who died in July 2021, is accomplished in a closely related way, though the way in which Goethe’s heritage is taken up differs-a point to which I will return shortly. 450 pages.ĭURING HIS AMERICAN exile, on the evening of November 17, 1942, at the Library of Congress in Washington, Thomas Mann gave an address about his quadrilogy, Joseph and His Brothers (1933–43), the most expansive of his novels, telling the story of Joseph’s abandonment by his brothers and the life he lived in Egypt.
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