To unlock his full creative potential, Adrian Leverkühn makes a lethal pact with nature and intentionally contracts syphilis.

A brilliant young composer, Adrian believes that the disease-induced madness will fuel his genius. But while his music reaches new heights, his mind and morality begin to unravel. Mann's interpretation of the Faustian legend is a story of madness and sanity, genius and corruption, intellectual attainment and Germany's moral fall.

''Arguably the great German novel'' New York Times

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