Thomas Mann at the Library of Congress with Hans Rudolf Vaget

The event "An Appeal to Reason: A Celebration of Democracy, Freedom, and Culture" commemorates the 150th birthday of writer and Nobel-laureate Thomas Mann with a timely exploration of his enduring legacy and its relevance to the challenges facing global democracy, freedom of expression, and the power of literature today. With "Thomas Mann at the Library of Congress", Hans Rudolf Vaget, Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Smith College, and Thomas Mann expert, gives a lecture on Thomas Mann's life, work, and relevance. Hans Rudolf Vaget is Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts). He received his academic training at the universities of Munich and Tübingen, the University of Wales at Cardiff and at Columbia University in New York. His research focuses on Goethe, Wagner and Thomas Mann, on which he has published extensively. Recently he published Wehvolles Erbe: Richard Wagner in Deutschland. Hitler, Knappertsbusch, Mann (S. Fischer Publishing House, 2017). He is the author of the seminal book Thomas Mann, der Amerikaner: Leben und Werk im amerikanischen Exil, 1938-1952 (S.Fischer Publishing House, 2011). ----- This event utilizes Mann's life and work as a springboard for critical conversations about the present state of our world. In 1941, exiled in the U.S., Mann was appointed Consultant in German Literature at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., delivering powerful annual speeches, such as The War and the Future (1943), Germany and the Germans (1945) and Goethe and Democracy (1949). This event will revisit the historic connection between the U.S. capital and Thomas Mann’s renowned speeches to examine his political and artistic legacy in the context of contemporary challenges on both sides of the Atlantic. The transatlantic event in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Washington, D.C., the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles, USC Libraries, and the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research takes place at the USC Capital Campus.