We have seen how the novel moved from dream to substance, from plan to realisation, and from complex and varied intentions – ethical, intellectual and aesthetic – to a narrative texture which embodies them. In this process Mann departed from ‘history’, both as some of his contemporaries interpreted it and as it is understood today, yet evolved a method which enabled him to stay close to it. In this section we relate this undertaking to the intellectual and literary climate of Mann's day, hoping to emphasise the personal nature of Mann's achievement, wrought against the considerable complexity of the literary scene in which he was writing.

As an ambitious writer Thomas Mann of course knew the literary fashions of the time well, and used them as models in some of his earliest works. At the same time, however, he knew both the major intellectual sources behind the fashions (for instance, Nietzsche) and the canonical literature which stood outside the changing trends of the moment. In the sense that Buddenbrooks drew on many models, it was dependent on given literary forms; while, as we saw, it also fulfilled a significant non-literary function in Mann's personal development. The success of such a work in part depends on the coextensiveness of its personal function and its ability to mobilise the literary conventions of the day in furthering the personal aims of the individual work.