3 h 37 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the quiet life you build to protect yourself cannot survive the arrival of one person?
In Thomas Mann’s Little Herr Friedemann, Johannes Friedemann finds comfort in music, books and walks. His body sets him apart, and he has made peace with a life without love. Then Gerda von Rinnlingen, the restless wife of the new district commander, arrives in town and unsettles that hard-won calm.
At the theatre, Gerda sits beside Friedemann in the same box, bringing desire uncomfortably close. Around this title story, Mann gathers tales of outsiders who long for love, health, admiration or belonging. In Tobias Mindernickel, a lonely man’s need for kindness becomes tangled with his need for power.
What you’ll discover
- A fragile private peace Enter Friedemann’s world of books and music, where quiet pleasures offer shelter from longing.
- Desire within reach Feel the pressure of a theatre encounter that puts Gerda beside the man she unsettles.
- The hunger for kindness Meet Tobias Mindernickel, whose loneliness draws pity and power into an uneasy knot.
- Sympathy with a sharp edge Discover how Mann watches vulnerable people closely, without flattering them or dismissing their wishes.
- The cost of longing Explore stories where the wish to belong can lift a person up or threaten everything.
Who will love it
For readers who love psychological fiction, carefully built short stories and the early work of a great novelist. It is also a good first step into Mann.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young writer studies the outsider
- Friedemann builds a quiet life
- Gerda von Rinnlingen arrives in town
- The theatre and the pull of desire
- Pity, art and illusion in the other tales
- Irony, symbols and the shape of the tales
Who’s who
- Johannes FriedemannA small, hunchbacked, cultured man who has made peace with a life without love and lives for music, books and walks.
- Gerda von RinnlingenThe wife of the new commander, a striking, restless woman whose arrival in the town unsettles Friedemann.
- Herr von RinnlingenGerda's husband, the new district commander, a plain and rather dull man who brings his wife to the town.
- The Friedemann sistersThree unmarried sisters who share the family home with Johannes and look after the household with him.
- Tobias MindernickelA lonely, ridiculed man in another tale of the collection, whose need for kindness and power becomes tangled.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 37 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, for the whole household.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear El pequeño señor Friedemann in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El pequeño señor Friedemann
by Thomas Mann · 1898
A woman's arrival unsettles Friedemann's quiet life of music and books, testing the peace he has built without love.
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- The whole household
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A young writer studies the outsider
The stories gathered under this title come from the first phase of Thomas Mann's career, the late 1890s. He was born in Lübeck in 1875 into a merchant family, and the old Hanseatic ports of northern Germany stand behind many of these pages. The towns are orderly, respectable and watchful. Their citizens notice every oddity.
In such a world the outsider is the natural hero. Mann's early characters are often frail, awkward or too sensitive for ordinary life. They live among healthy, confident people who seem to move through the world without effort. The young author is drawn to the watcher who stands at the edge, and he asks what that position does to a person.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, for the whole household. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - The whole householdUp to 5 readers
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about El pequeño señor Friedemann
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
Can my family read too?
Yes. The whole household reads and listens: up to 5 readers, each with their own shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Little Herr Friedemann about?
The title story follows a hunchbacked man who has given up on love and lives a quiet life of music and books. The arrival of a new woman in his town disturbs the peace he built.
When did Thomas Mann write Little Herr Friedemann?
Mann wrote the early stories in the late 1890s, when he was in his early twenties. The collection was published in Germany in 1898, before his first novel, Buddenbrooks, appeared.
Which stories are in the collection?
The title story is always included. Other tales often gathered with it include Tobias Mindernickel, The Clown, The Will to Happiness and Luischen, though editions and English collections differ.
The author
Thomas Mann
1875–1955 · German novelist
Thomas Mann was a German novelist born in Lübeck in 1875. He wrote Buddenbrooks (1901), Tonio Kröger (1903), Royal Highness (1909), and Death in Venice (1912). He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. He lived in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, and died in Zürich in 1955.
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in short stories
See all
Free
Free
Free
Free
