The horrifying humor , the specifically sexual embarrassment of the joke gone wrong , the monstrous image of the fat man dressed up as a whore dressing up as a baby ; the epiphany of that quivering flesh ; the bringing together around it of the secret liaison between indolent , mindless sensuality and sharp , shrewd talent , cleverness with an occasional touch of genius ( which, however , does not know "how to attack the problem of suffering " ); the miraculous way in which music , revelation and death are associated in a single instant - all this seems a triumph of art , a rather desperate art , in itself; beyond itself, also , it evokes numerous and distant resonances from the entire body of Mann 's work .