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A look back at Thomas Mann's 'Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man' and 'The Magic Mountain' reveals an author perpetually in exile—literally and figuratively.

The great novelist’s defense of the nonpolitical continues to resonate.

What They Wrote About the War APRIL 21, 2021 ON AUGUST 1, 1914, Thomas Mann was summering in a villa outside the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz. His children were down the street rehearsing a play with their cousins when they heard that Germany had declared war on Russia. They ran home to tell their papa. He could scarcely believe it. His first reaction was to say, darkly, that this would never have happened if Tolstoy were still alive. But in the next few days he discovered in himself a surprising enthusiasm. He began to write an essay. He would call it “Thoughts in Wartime.”