Thomas Mann (1875-1955), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, wrote essays as well as some of the great fiction of the twentieth century, including Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Death in Venice, Joseph and His Brothers, and Doctor Faustus. Nina Pelikan Straus teaches in the Humanities program at SUNY, Purchase and has published articles on Mann's Dr. Faustus and Kafka's Metamorphis.