Thomas Mann House Fellows Return, In-Person Events to Resume

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

The Thomas Mann House, located in the Riviera neighborhood, opened its doors to its latest fellows after being closed for over one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thomas Mann House offers residency fellowships for German artists and intellectuals, specifically individuals who address issues relevant to both shores of the Atlantic. The home aims to offer a peaceful atmosphere for its fellows to actively engage in intellectual exchange and their own work.

Nikolai Blaumer, program director of Thomas Mann House, said fellows had to return to Germany last year after COVID-19 disrupted the world. The house was empty for over one year, but individuals were able to engage in virtual programs and events.

Blaumer shared that he was happy to announce the return of four fellows this June, with the help of National Interest Exceptions, which allows students, academics, researchers and more to proceed with travel to the United States.

Depending on their projects, fellows are granted at least three months and no more than 10 at the house. A new cohort will be joining the San Remo house in October, Blaumer said.

Following the return of its fellows, Thomas Mann House is also kicking off a series of events in September. On Thursday, September 9, award-winning Irish author Colm Tóibín will join literary scholar and current fellow of the Thomas Mann House Friedhelm Marx in discussing his latest novel, “The Magician,” which explores the life of Thomas Mann himself.

“Just as Tóibín described the life of Henry James in ‘The Master,’ his new book chronicles the life of the Nobel Prize winner, the brilliant, complex artist whose life unfolds at a time when change and war are shaking Europe,” according to the Thomas Mann House website. “The novel contains fascinating sections about interwar Germany: the inflation, the growing discontent, the chaos, but also the artistic and sexual freedom that Mann’s children Erika and Klaus experienced and lived out. We see Thomas and Katia Mann struggling to find their way in a new and strange home, first in Princeton and later in Los Angeles.”

“[Tóibín] spends part of the year in Los Angeles … and his work is really well received,” Blaumer said to the Palisadian-Post. “He’s a really remarkable speaker and professor at Columbia University, so he’s really top-notch.”

 Blaumer said although the event is not open to the public, it will be available for Palisadians to watch on the Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House YouTube channel.

For more information, visit vatmh.org/en/home-en.html.