Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-18
Thomas Mann Tells
How Joseph Grew
To Picture Mankind
Vice President Wallace
Introduces Refugee
Author for Lecture

introduced by Vice President Wal
lace as one of the greatest authors
OF the present day, Thomas Mann
told an audience last night that he
has hard time getting down to
work, just like all other writer's.
TO begin is always terribly diff
f1cult," said the 1929 winner of the
Nobel prize in literature, who now is
living here in exile from his native
Germany. "And never did I beat
around the bush more than in writ
Ing Joseph and His Brothers.
But he felt an obligation almost
imposed" on him, he said, to turn
the Joseph story from the Bible into
"a symbol of all humanity" Nobody
was more surprised than he, the
author said, at the Is years of eff
fort he put into the four volumes
and at the 1000 pages his Joseph
story now fills.
The introduction itself was "a
pages" Mr.. Mann remarked in his
precise accent. TT should have made
me suspicious of the length Of the
whole
Benefits In Culture.
Mr.. Wallace told an overflow au-
dience in Coolidge Hall at the La
brary of Congress that in 50 years
Americans may look back to the
"30s" and "40s" as a period OF great
enrichment of national life through
the immigration of cultured refugees
like Dr. Mann to this country.
AS a novelist the author has been
able ito capture in exact and en-
during words the deepest emotions
OF the mass Of the people," Mr..
Wallace said.
Archibald MacLeish, librarian of
Congress, who himself is an au-
thor, paid tribute to DR.. Mann as
the master of us ALL" Citing that
the address last night was the. au-
thor's first appearance as the Lii
brary's consultant in German lit
emture, Mr.. MacLeish emphasized
that, despite political differences,
mo evil. hatred or venom can ever
destroy" the literature OF the Ger
manic peoples.
Making still little bow to stress
each important point, DR.. Mann
also resorted to the use of increas-
ingly enthusiastic gestures as he
described to the audience his love
sor the story of Joseph.
Inspired by Bible.
He first thought of it as a theme
for a novel IS years ago when he
was reading his ancestral Bible at
Munich, DR.. Mann said. Then he
remembered that the German au-
thor Goethe had commented in his
memoirs on the possibilities of this
simple tale as lengthy book.
Immediately, he said, his mind
began a preliminary probing into
the story. Like great adventure"
the 67-year-old author said with a
boyish grin. he began to use every
spiritual and technical means" to
enlarge the meager facts in the
Bible to novel length So success
fully did he use psychology, Ian
guage, humor and critical comment
to stretch the story, he said, that
Is years later he has just finished
the fourth volume, Joseph the Pro-
WIDER"
All the time he was working, de-
clared DR.. Mann, he was conscious
of a "clandestine tendency" to try
to make the story OF Joseph the
STORY of all mankind"
The famous refugee spoke OF his
native Europe as full of stale and
outworn things. of evident obso-
lete and even sacrilegious anachro-
nisms"
Here In this hail." he said, "it Is
quite the right place to express
the hope that after this war we
or our children will live in a world
of happier equalization between
spirit and reality and that we will
win the peace"