The Magic Mountain

Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain is a book Toru Watanabe carries into the emotional and practical circumstances of his visits to Naoko at the sanatorium. Its appearances frame waiting, conversation, and sleeplessness: first a companion during the night before his journey, then an incongruous object noticed by Reiko, and finally something he sets aside when Naoko comes to him in the dark.

Before the Visit

After arranging by telephone to visit Naoko, Watanabe puts clothes and toiletries in his rucksack. Before setting out, he picks up The Magic Mountain, reads while sipping brandy, and waits to become sleepy; he does not fall asleep until after one in the morning. The book belongs here to a night suspended between anticipation and departure, before Watanabe rises early and travels by train toward Kyoto and the sanatorium.

An Incongruous Reading Companion

During the visit, Watanabe reads from the book while alone in the quiet sanatorium. When Naoko and Reiko return together at 5:30, Reiko notices what he has been reading and asks about it. Watanabe identifies it as Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain; Reiko responds, “How could you bring a book like that to a place like this?” Her rebuke makes the book conspicuous: a substantial literary work feels out of place amid the patients’ lives and the institution’s quiet. The exchange gives the object a social presence, as well as its private function as something Watanabe can read while he waits.

The book also opens onto the visit’s ordinary conversation. Reiko makes coffee for the three of them, and Watanabe tells Naoko about Storm Trooper’s disappearance and the firefly he had given him. The book’s presence does not shut out this talk; it is set aside as the three share stories and laughter.

Set Aside in the Night

Later, unable to sleep, Watanabe takes The Magic Mountain and a torch from his rucksack and reads for a while. Just before midnight, Naoko opens the bedroom door and crawls in beside him. Unlike the previous night, she seems like her usual self: her eyes are focused and her movements brisk. She whispers that she cannot sleep. Watanabe answers that he cannot either, sets the book down, turns off the torch, and takes her in his arms.

The action gives the book a modest but precise role. It occupies Watanabe during sleepless waiting, yet yields to the immediate demands of Naoko’s presence. Across its appearances, it marks a change in what can hold his attention: first the solitary passage of a difficult night, then the encounter that makes reading unnecessary.