The Second World War in Thomas Mann and Marguerite Yourcenar.

The article examines the intellectual and artistic connections between German writer Thomas Mann and French author Marguerite Yourcenar, focusing on their shared engagement with the cultural crises of the Second World War. It centers on Yourcenar's 1955 essay "Humanism and Hermeticism in Thomas Mann," which interprets Mann's oeuvre through alchemical and hermetic motifs, emphasizing themes of dissolution, transformation, and the interplay of time, myth, and humanism amid catastrophe. Both authors affirm a form of "dark" or post-catastrophic humanism that navigates the tension between classical European spirit and the abyss of destruction, using metaphors such as the alchemical opus nigredo (black work) to explore death, chaos, and renewal. Yourcenar's reflections also highlight Mann's narrative style as a dynamic layering of realism and myth, where eroticism, illness, and initiation serve as pathways to deeper knowledge, ultimately portraying human existence as a continual process of transition rather than fixed identity.