Adrian Leverkühn

E220670

Adrian Leverkühn is the fictional German composer in Thomas Mann’s novel "Doctor Faustus," whose tragic pact for artistic genius serves as an allegory for the moral and cultural collapse of Germany.

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All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Adrian Leverkühn canonical 7

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
fictional composer
literary character
allegoricalRole allegory of cultural collapse of Germany
allegory of moral collapse of Germany
appearsIn Doctor Faustus
associatedWith German intellectual history
modernism in music
characterTrait artistic obsession
emotional detachment
intellectualism
contractDuration 24 years (Faustian pact)
countryOfCitizenship Germany
creator Thomas Mann
diesFrom brain fever (within the novel)
education studied music composition
studied theology
familyBackground Lutheran middle-class family (fictional)
fictionalUniverse Doctor Faustus
surface form: Doctor Faustus (novel)
firstAppearance Doctor Faustus
surface form: Doctor Faustus (1947 novel)
genre classical music
hasFriend Serenus Zeitblom
hasFullName Adrian Leverkühn self-link
inspiredBy Arnold Schoenberg
surface form: Arnold Schoenberg (stylistically, controversially)

Faust legend
Johann Sebastian Bach
surface form: Johann Sebastian Bach (stylistically)
languageOfWorkOrName German
literaryMovement German modernist literature (as character)
makesPactWith the Devil
medium novel
mentalState gradual mental breakdown
narratedBy Serenus Zeitblom
narrativeFunction central protagonist of Doctor Faustus
vehicle for political and philosophical reflection
occupation composer
philosophicalContext influenced by Nietzschean ideas (within the narrative)
relatedWork Faust
surface form: Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (intertextual reference)
restrictionOfPact renunciation of human love
setIn early 20th-century Germany
suffersFrom syphilis
symbolizes corruption of German culture under fascism
the dangers of artistic absolutism
the link between genius and destruction
theme Faustian bargain
usesTechnique twelve-tone composition (within the fiction)
workInFiction Apocalypsis cum figuris (fictional composition)
The Lamentation of Doctor Faustus (fictional composition)

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Doctor Faustus mainCharacter Adrian Leverkühn
Doctor Faustus hasCharacter Adrian Leverkühn
Adrian Leverkühn hasFullName Adrian Leverkühn self-link
Serenus Zeitblom hasFriend Adrian Leverkühn
Serenus Zeitblom isBiographerOf Adrian Leverkühn
Serenus Zeitblom narratesLifeOf Adrian Leverkühn
Serenus Zeitblom contrastedWith Adrian Leverkühn