Interview: Kerstin Holzer about her Monika Mann biography – Munich

In her family she was one that no one missed when she was not around. Monika Mann, fourth-born of the poet’s six children, was long considered the dull, whimsical “Mönle”, a talentless eccentric in this first family of German high culture, blessed with so much brilliance. She suffered from this all her life. Her wish for a biography that does her justice has only now come true, 30 years after her death. Kerstin Holzer, who has already written about Elisabeth Mann Borgese, reconstructs Monika Mann’s life on Capri in her book “Monascella” (dtv). She spent 31 years there. A conversation with the Munich author, who researched for her portrait on the island, interviewed contemporary witnesses and was able to evaluate previously unpublished material.

SZ: The Monika bullying, Monika bashing was apparently part of good form in this family. Why this spitefulness?

Kerstin Holzer: Even as a child, Monika Mann was considered an outsider, not as ingenious and sparkling as the older siblings Klaus and Erika, not as funny as the little ones Elisabeth and Michael – like Golo trapped in this thankless middle position. And it didn’t work like the others either. The motto of the Manns was: “If you can, you do it!” For a long time Monika didn’t know what to make of herself, she tried out everything possible artistically, drawing or music. When she later found writing, the family did not react with factual criticism, but with caustic mockery, they say “Moni’s masterpiece” or “the little talent”. But none of that fully explains their underdog role.

Then what does it explain?

I thought it was time for a modern look at this family dynamic: And that’s when you notice that Monika’s all too classically connoted femininity is also considered a disruptive factor. Unlike her sisters, she is not so androgynous, takes care of her clothes and long curls. This is despised in the family, the “Pudelmoni” is mentioned. Added to this is her pronounced emotionality, which is notorious for being hysterical. Monika Mann has taken the right to show her vulnerability. That was unusual and irritating.

Not exactly the Manns’ style.

On the contrary, it was frowned upon. In the Mann family one had to tame one’s feelings, with irony, discipline, with productivity, and if there was no other choice, also with stimulants from the medicine cabinet, the “Heiterleins”.

Why has German studies, the public, reproduced this Mönle image of the Manns so uncritically, almost to this day?

Because the smug comments about Monika are of course extremely amusing, and because nothing was opposed to them. Monika Mann is certainly not an unrecognized literary genius, but she had poetic strengths. Her writing is of inconsistent quality, but if you read Elisabeth Mann Borgese’s short stories, you’ll find some of them difficult.

Kerstin Holzer doesn’t want to make a heroine out of Monika Mann. “I thought she deserved more justice and more empathy,” says the author, who was able to speak to many eyewitnesses.

(Photo: Markus Tedeskino)

Monika Mann shares a love of the sea with Elisabeth Mann Borgese, who founded the International Ocean Institute. Isn’t that unusual for someone who almost died in it like she did? A German submarine torpedo had hit the ship on which Monika and her husband Jenö Lányi wanted to escape from the Nazis to America.

It must have been dramatic: Monika Mann was in the water for 20 hours, her husband drowned before her eyes, dead children were floating on the sea. And yet she lived for more than 30 years in a house on the cliffs of Capri, with the sea in front of her eyes every day. When I stood in front of Villa Monacone for the first time, I realized that she was probably a more resilient woman than you might think. I am convinced that this ship disaster was not the greatest trauma of her life. Her greatest misfortune was the estrangement from her family, especially from her mother Katia.

Literature: In Katia Mann's memories "My unwritten memoirs", which she wrote at the age of 91, is not mentioned by Monika Mann (far right).  This childhood photo shows the two together with (from left) Klaus, Erika and Golo.

In Katia Mann’s memoirs “My unwritten memoirs”, which she wrote at the age of 91, Monika Mann (far right) does not appear at all. This childhood photo shows the two together with (from left) Klaus, Erika and Golo.

(Photo: SM/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo)

How did she find the strength to endure it all?

In a letter, Erika Mann was surprised that Monika was actually happy to have been saved. But for Monika her own existence was actually precious. She had enormous life energy and she believed in herself, for a long time she was the only one. That’s why she had the courage to start over in her mid-40s.

On Capri she found a new love, Antonio Spadaro, a simple man. Your letters to him, which are in the Munich Monacensia, were accessible for the first time?

Permission from the copyright successor was required to read them. What I found fascinating: These letters sound so completely different from what we know from Monika Mann, not so erratic, but reasonable. They are testimonies of a great love and respect between her, the daughter of a Nobel Prize winner, and him, the son of fishermen and bricklayers. She did not find a common language with her family, but with Antonio she did.

Literature: A couple for 31 years: Monika Mann met Antonio Spadaro, the son of a bricklayer and fisherman, on Capri in the mid-1950s.  He called Monica affectionately "Monascela"alluding to the Latin origin of her name, der "hermit" means.

A couple for 31 years: Monika Mann met Antonio Spadaro, the son of a bricklayer and fisherman, on Capri in the mid-1950s. He affectionately called Monika “Monascela”, in reference to the Latin origin of her name, which means “hermit”.

(Photo: Studio Bibliografico Marini)

Unlike Elisabeth, you never met Monika. Did you become sympathetic to her in the course of research and writing?

Elisabeth Mann Borgese was a stunning woman who was easy to admire. One would rather not identify with Monika Mann, for long stretches this life is too unhappy, her behavior too regressive. It was important to me not to make a heroine out of her, because she was definitely an oddball. But oddballs are exciting, in literature as in life. I felt she deserved more justice, and more empathy too.

“What a strange family we are! Later books will be written about us – not just about one of us.” This diary entry by Klaus Mann on July 3, 1936 is as arrogant as it is prophetic. Where does this never-ending interest in these people come from? A wristwatch by Thomas Mann will be auctioned at the Munich auction house Neumeister on December 7th – a real tactile relic, so to speak.

The Manns are certainly the most fascinating family of German artists. They are about life issues that concern us all, about the painful ties of family, the search for a purpose and recognition. If you look at the literature, every single volume about the Manns is basically another variation on family constellation.

But what about the books the Manns wrote themselves: will future generations still read them?

That will stay. And in 2024 we will celebrate 100 years of “Magic Mountain”, who knows what awaits us there. For example, I love reading The Magic Mountain or Thomas Mann’s stories when I’m sick – I find the tone somehow calming.

Monascella, an evening with Kerstin Holzer about Monika Mann, moderation: Dirk Heiserer, Wednesday, December 7th, 8 p.m., Literaturhaus Munich, www.literaturhaus-muenchen.de

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