Disorder and Early Sorrow Study Guide

Thomas Mann is one of the most important German novelists of the twentieth century. But not to be overlooked are his contributions to the genre of the short story, among which ‘‘Disorder and Early Sorrow’’ is one of his best. It first appeared in 1925 in a publication celebrating his fiftieth birthday. Regarding the story, he said, ‘‘For the first time in my life I wrote something literary, one might say to order: the editorship of the Fischer Neue Rundschau published a Festschrift for my 50th birthday and they wanted it to contain a narrative contribution by the birthday child. So emerged ‘Disorder and Early Sorrow,’ a story which I like so much that I am tempted to count it among my very best.’’

The story examines the life of the Cornelius family as they prepare for a party at their home. Through their simple preparations, the reader is given a glimpse into daily life of 1920s Germany during the last years of the Weimar Republic. Frustrations over the country’s economic instability and social upheaval constitute the undercurrent of his tale. Professor Cornelius, the patriarch of the family and a professor of history, finds safety and stability in his profession. He says that ‘‘the past is immortalized; that is to say, it is dead; and death is the root of all godliness and all abiding significance.’’ It is that dead significance that he finds comforting in contrast to the revolution going on about him. Professor Cornelius also comes into quiet conflict with the modern art forms that so attract his children and their friends. He sees these new styles as fraudulent and phony. These two thematic issues, social upheaval and the role of art and the artist in society, are basic to most of Mann’s writings, and such is the case in this story. Additionally, the theme of the search for self-identity plays an important part in the unfolding of the story.

Disorder and Early Sorrow Summary

‘‘Disorder and Early Sorrow’’ is a novella that examines the life of Professor Cornelius’s family during one day in post-World War I Germany. The scene opens with a discussion between the members of the family and how they interact. Members of the family are identified by their generation: Ingrid and Bert, both teenagers, are ‘‘the big folk’’; Professor Cornelius and his wife are ‘‘the old folk’’; Ellie and Snapper, the youngest of the Professor’s children, are ‘‘the little folk’’; and Professor Cornelius’s parents, who are only mentioned and have no part in the action of the story, are referred to as ‘‘‘the ancients.’’ Other members of the household include the servants, Xaver, the Nurse, and the Hinterhofer sisters. Several friends of Ingrid and Bert also appear in the story at the party.

The setting for the tale is Munich in the mid- 1920s. It takes place during one day in which Ingrid and Bert plan and give a party for their friends. During the afternoon, there are occasional digressions that reveal incidents from the ‘‘big folks’’ recent past which serve to expand the scope of this tale and give the reader a more complete understanding of the nature of the characters in the story and the times in which they live. The point of view for the story is the Professor’s. He thinks about his children, his profession, and his concerns about the modern art forms. The third-person limited narrator allows the reader to witness the action of the story through the Professor’s eyes only.

After the opening section, there is the first digression: the incident on the bus. Bert and Ingrid pretend to be people from another part of the country, adopting exotic accents and mannerisms. They ‘‘delight in misleading and mystifying their fellow-men’’ by ‘‘impersonating fictitious characters.’’ They talk in loud voices, making up their stories about events that never happened, each one more outrageous than the last. Finally,... » Complete Disorder and Early Sorrow Summary