Joseph and His Brothers (Joseph und seine Brüder) is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph (chapters 27–50), setting it in the historical context of the Amarna Period. Mann considered it his greatest work.
The tetralogy consists of:
- Die Geschichten Jaakobs (written December 1926 to October 1930, Genesis 27–36)
- Der junge Joseph (written January 1931 to June 1932, Genesis 37)
- Joseph in Ägypten (written July 1932 to 23 August 1936, Genesis 38–40)
- Joseph der Ernährer (written 10 August 1940 to 4. January 1943, Genesis 41–50)
Read more about Joseph And His Brothers: Themes, Three Famous Events, Editions, Literature
Famous quotes containing the words joseph and/or brothers:
“If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They can not tell me.”
—Chief Joseph (c. 1840–1904)
“Men and women are brothers and sisters; they are not of different species; and what need be obtained to know both, but to allow for different modes of education, for situation and constitution, or perhaps I should rather say, for habits, whether good or bad.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)