Motherland

It's no coincidence that Thomas Mann, one of Germany's best-known writers, called Brazil "motherland" in 1943. He and his brother, Heinrich Mann, also a writer, are the children of Brazilian Julia da Silva-Bruhns, who was born in 1851 in Paraty, Rio de Janeiro. This book aims to explore the traces Brazil left on Julia Mann and subsequent generations of her family, particularly in the works of Thomas and Heinrich Mann. This study, co-authored by Karl-Josef Kuschel, Frido Mann, and Paulo Astor Soethe, longtime interlocutors, combines historical and documentary research, literary reflection, and personal engagement with the subject.