THOMAS MANN Budden brooks THOMAS MANN was born in Germany in 1875. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, and left Germany for good in 1933. Among his major novels are Buddenbrooks (1901), Th e Magic Mountain (1924), the tetralogy joseph and His Brothers (1933, 1 934, 1 936, 1 943), and Doctor Fa ustus (1948). He is equally well known for his short stories and essays. Thomas Mann died in 1955· INTE RNATIONAL ALSO BY THOMAS MANN Th e Black Swan Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories Doctor Fa ustus Th e Holy Sinner joseph and His Brothers Lotte in Weimar: Th e Beloved Returns Th e Magic Mountain Royal Highness Stories of Three Decades Th e Transposed Heads THOMAS MANN Budden brooks The Decline of a Family TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY joHN E. WooDs VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL Vintage Books A Division of Random House, Inc. New York fiRST VINTAGE iNTERNATIONAL EDITION, JULY I 994 Copyright © 1993 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1993. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955· [Buddenbrooks. English] Buddenbrooks : the decline of a family I Thomas Mann ; translated from the German by John E. Woods.- 1st Vintage International ed. p. em. ISBN o-679-75 z6o-9 I. Woods, John E. Qohn Edwin) II. Title. PTz6z5.A44B8z 1994 8n'·91z-dczo 93-43499 CIP Book design by Rebecca Aidlin Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 PAR T ONE 1 H AT DOES THIS MEAN.-What-does this mean ...." W "Well, now, deuce take it, c'est Ia question, ma tres chere demoiselle!" Madame Buddenbrook was sitting beside her mother-in-law on the sofa, its clean lines accented with white enamel and a golden lion's head, its cushions upholstered a pale yellow; she first shot a glance at her husband, the consul, who was seated in an armchair beside her, and then came to the rescue of her young daughter, who was perched on her grandfather's knee near the window. "Tony!" she said. "I believe that God made me-" And little Antonie, a petite eight-year-old in a dress of softly shimmering silk, was thinking hard, her pretty blond head turned slightly toward her grandfather, but her gray-blue eyes directed into the room without seeing anything. She first repeated, "What does this mean," then slowly said, "I believe that God made me," and quickly added, her face brightening, "-and all creatures," and, suddenly finding the track smooth-she was unstoppable now and her face beamed with happiness-she rattled off the whole article, as prescribed by her catechism, newly revised and published under the auspices of an august and wise senate in this year of our Lord, 18 3 5. Once you were moving, she thought, it felt just like racing down "Jerusalem Hill" on the sled with her brothers in winter: every thought vanished from your mind, and you couldn't stop if you wanted to. "Including clothes and shoes," she said, "meat and drink, hearth and home, wife and child, fieldsand cattle ..." But at these words, old Monsieur Johann Budden brook burst into laughter, a high, 4 BUDDENBROOKS pinched giggle that he had secretly kept at the ready. He laughed in delight at being able to mock the catechism, had presumably ar­ ranged this little exam for just that purpose. He inquired about Tony's fields and cattle, asked how much she wanted for a sack of wheat, and offered her a contract. His round, pastel pink, good­ humored face-try as he would he could not look mean-was framed in snow-white powdered hair, and something like the merest hint of a pigtail brushed the wide collar of his mouse-gray frock coat. He had not, at seventy, proved untrue to the fashion of his youth; he had dispensed with lace between the buttons and the oversize pocket, but never in his life had he worn long trousers. His broad double-chin rested comfortably on the wide lace jabot. They had all joined in the laughter, mainly out of respect for the head of the family. Madame Antoinette Buddenbrook, nee Du­ champs, giggled exactly like her husband. She was a stout lady with thick white curls at her ears, her unadorned black dress with pale gray stripes expressed simplicity and modesty, and her beautiful white hands clasped a small velvet reticule on her lap. Over the years, her features had curiously become very like her husband's. Only the shape and lively dark hue of her eyes hinted at her half­ Latin origins; her grandfather had been French-Swiss, but she was born in Hamburg. Her daughter-in-law, Elisabeth Buddenbrook, nee Kroger, laughed the Kroger laugh, which began with a splutter as her chin was pressed against the chest. She was, like all Krogers, a person of great elegance, and though perhaps not a beauty, by her clear and cheerful voice, by her easy, sure, and gentle movements, she im­ pressed everyone with her serenity and confidence. Her reddish hair, which swept back high on her head in a little crowning swirl and lay in broad, carefully coiffed waves over her ears, matched well with her extraordinary soft white complexion and the few little freckles. The most characteristic feature of her face, with its rather long nose and small mouth, was the lack of any indentation between lower lip and chin. Her short bodice with high puffed sleeves was fitted to a narrow skirt of filmysilk patterned in bright flowers and open at a neck of perfect beauty, adorned by a satin ribbon glistening with a spray of large diamonds. BUDDENBROOKS The consul fidgeted and bent forward in his armchair. He wore a cinnamon jacket with broad lapels and leg-of-mutton sleeves that closed tight just below the wrist. His fittedtrousers were of a white, washable fabric and trimmed with a black stripe down each side. The silk cravat wound around his stiff high-wing collar was fluffed to fill the broad, open neck of his multicolored vest. He had some­ thing of his father's deep-set, blue, watchful eyes, though perhaps with a more preoccupied expression; but his features were more earnest and defined, the nose jutted forward in a strong curve, and blond curls ran halfway down his cheeks, which were much less full than the old man's. Madame Buddenbrook turned to her daughter-in-law, pressing her arm with one hand and giggling as she spoke into her own lap: "Oh, mon vieux, always the same, is he not, Bethsy?" She pronounced it "ollweez." The consul's wife merely waved this aside with her delicate hand, setting her gold bracelet jingling softly; and then the hand performed a gesture peculiarly her own, moving from one corner of her mouth up to her coiffure, as if tucking back a hair that had strayed to her lips. The consul, however, said with a mixture of indulgent amuse­ ment and reproach in his voice, "Now, Father, you are making fun of the most sacred matters again!" They were sitting in the "landscape room," on the second floor of the spacious old house on Meng Strasse, which the firm of Johann Buddenbrook had recently purchased and in which his family had resided for only a short time. The thick, supple wall coverings, which had been hung so that there was a gap between them and the wall, depicted expansive landscapes in the same pastel colors as the thin carpet on the floor-idyllicscenes in the style of the eighteenth century, with merry vinedressers, diligent farmers, prettily rib­ boned shepherdesses, who sat beside reflectingpools, holding spot­ less lambs in their laps or exchanging kisses with tender shepherds. Most of these scenes were suffused with yellowish sunsets that matched the yellow upholstery of the white enameled furniture and the yellow silk of the curtains at both windows. Given the size of the room, there was not a great deal of furniture. 6 BUDDENBROOKS The round table with its thin, straight legs finely detailed in gold was not placed in front of the sofa, but stood against the far wall, facing the little harmonium-a flute case lay on the lid. Apart from stiff armchairs distributed evenly along the walls, there was only a small sewing table at the window and, opposite the sofa, a fragile and expensive secretary loaded with knickknacks. Through a glass door, opposite the windows, a columned hallway was visible in the semidarkness, and to the left of someone entering the room were wide folding doors that opened onto the dining room. To the right, however, a crackling firecould be seen through the ornate wrought-iron door of the stove, which was set back in a semicircular niche. It was cold for so early in the season. Even now-and it was only mid-October-there were yellow leaves on the small linden trees that lined St. Mary's Cemetery across the street, and the wind whistled in the nooks and around its massive Gothic corners. A fine, cold rain was falling. They had already put up the storm windows to oblige the older Madame Buddenbrook. It was Thursday, the day on which the family regularly gathered every other week; but today, along with relatives who lived in the city, a few good friends of the family had been invited to share a simple dinner, and so they sat in the waning light of evening-the clock was approaching four-awaiting their guests.