The Transposed Heads

	The Transposed Heads ''The Transposed Heads'' (german: Die vertauschten Köpfe) is a novella by Thomas Mann. It was written in 1940 and published later that year by Bermann-Fischer. The English translation by H. T. Lowe-Porter was published in 1941 by Alfred A. Knopf. It was one of Mann's last novellas, followed only by '' The Tables of the Law'' in 1944 and '' The Black Swan'' in 1954. Set in India, the story is a jocular retelling of an ancient folk legend.Kontje, Todd (2011)''The Cambridge Introduction to Thomas Mann'' pp. 96–98. Cambridge University Press. Background and themes Mann subtitled the novella ''An Indian Legend''. He was inspired to write it after reading a book on the Indian goddess Kali by the Indologist Heinrich Zimmer in which Zimmer recounted the old folk tale which became the basis of ''The Transposed Heads''. Mann began writing it in January 1940 and finished in August of that year. He dedicated the published work to Zimmer adding the words "Returned with thanks". Both its se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized versions of German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arthur Schopenhauer. Mann was a member of the Hanseatic Mann family and portrayed his family and class in his first novel, '' Buddenbrooks''. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann and three of Mann's six children – Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann – also became significant German writers. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he moved to the United States, then returned to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Sati (practice) Sati or suttee is a Hindu practice, now largely historical, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. Quote: Between 1943 and 1987, some thirty women in Rajasthan (twenty-eight, according to official statistics) immolated themselves on their husband's funeral pyre. This figure probably falls short of the actual number. (p. 182) Although it is debated whether it received scriptural mention in early Hinduism, it has been linked to related Hindu practices in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions of India which diminished the rights of women, especially those to the inheritance of property. A cold form of sati, or the neglect and casting out of Hindu widows has been prevalent in India from ancient times. Quote: Sati is a particularly relevant social practice because it is often used as a means to prevent inheritance of property by widows. In parallel, widows are also sometimes branded as witches – and subjected to violent expulsion f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]