The accouterments of life were so rich and varied, so elaborated, that almost no place at all was left for life itself. Each and every accessory was so costly and beautiful that it had an existence above and beyond the purpose it was meant to serve – confusing the observer and absorbing attention.

His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories as well as the ideas of Goethe Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. " Nietzsche's influence on Mann runs deep in his work especially in Nietzsche's views on decay and the proposed fundamental connection between sickness and creativity. In 1942 the Mann family moved to Pacific Palisades in west Los Angeles California where they lived until after the end of World War II.

Mann was a member of the Hanseatic Mann family and portrayed his own family in the novel Buddenbrooks. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories as well as the ideas of Goethe Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. When Hitler came to power in 1933 Mann fled to Switzerland.