SOURCE: "The Embarrassed Muse," in The Ironic German: A Study of Thomas Mann, Little, Brown and Company, 1958, pp. 68-115.

Heller was a Bohemian-born English educator and critic who specialized in German literature. In the following excerpt, he examines theme and style in Tonio Kröger within the context of a discussion of the modern conception of the artist.

Even before Buddenbrooks was accepted for publication Thomas Mann began Tonio Kröger. As early as 29 December 1900, in a letter to his brother Heinrich, he mentions his plan for the 'elegiac Novelle' which six weeks later (13 February 1901) is tentatively given the title 'Literature'; and he adds in brackets: 'Illae lacrimael' In the same letter he says: 'When spring comes, I shall have survived a winter full of inward excitement. This very unliterary and unsophisticated experience has proved one thing to me: there is still something left in me which is...