Joseph in America

Abstract

Abstract This short essay focuses on the most “American” of Mann’s novels in the larger context of his fictional universe. Joseph der Ernährer offers an oblique response to Nazi Germany refracted through the lens of ancient Egypt, but it also reflects Mann’s ongoing engagement with the meaning of America. Mann creates a comic counterpart to historical tragedy, granting humanity a vision of redemption in an utterly debased world. The laudable cosmopolitanism of Mann’s world view unfortunately goes hand in hand with a less admirable tendency to project racial difference and sexual desires onto “dark” continents in his literary works.