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then enters the temple and when he finds
Shridaman's corpse, he likewise beheads himself. On discovering what has happened, Sita is about to hang herself when goddess Kali appears. She tells Sita to place the heads back on the bodies and she will bring them back to life. However, in her grief and confusion Sita had placed Nanda's head on Shridaman's body and vice versa. Each man now retains his original identity but has a new body.
235:
intellect. Both fall in love with Sita, the daughter of a cattle-breeder. She accepts
Shridaman's proposal of marriage but shortly after their wedding, she begins to wonder if she had made the wrong choice. Matters are not helped by the fact that Nanda has remained Shridaman's friend and is a frequent visitor to their house. Soon, both Nanda and Shridaman become aware of what is happening.
189:. Mann began writing it in January 1940 and finished in August of that year. He dedicated the published work to Zimmer adding the words "Returned with thanks". Both its setting and its source marked a unique departure from Mann's oeuvre. He described it as his "first approach to the French surrealist sphere", an oblique reference to the work of
246:
Four years have passed. While
Shridaman is away on business, Sita takes her son to visit Nanda and show him the child his new body had generated. Sita and Nanda are overwhelmed by passion. On returning to an empty house, Shridaman sets off to find Nanda and Sita. He proposes to them the only solution
238:
Six months after the wedding and with Sita pregnant with
Shridaman's child, they set off to visit her parents accompanied by Nanda. On the way they stop at a temple to the goddess Kali where Shridaman goes in to pray. In a fit of religious fervor he beheads himself to free Sita to marry Nanda. Nanda
242:
At first the situation seems to be going well. Sita gives birth to
Samadhi, a lovable child with very poor eyesight who is nicknamed "Andhaka" ("Little blind boy"). Shridaman is pleased to have a perfect body and Nanda is pleased to have the body that has fathered Sita's child. He is also pleased
234:
Shridaman and Nanda are two young friends who are "little different in age and in caste, but very unlike in body." Shridaman is a learned merchant with strong spiritual qualities and a noble face but a thin, weedy body. Nanda is a blacksmith with a strong and beautiful body but a rather ordinary
243:
that Sita is having sex with his former body. Nevertheless, they decide to consult the wise man
Kamadamana as to which of the two men is actually her husband. He determines that it is the one with the head of Shridaman. In his disappointment, Nanda becomes a religious recluse.
226:, is a seemingly innocent girl who causes the death of both the men who love her. She becomes a human manifestation of Kali, the goddess of time and creation but also of destruction.
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for a situation where a woman is simultaneously in love with one man's body and another man's head. The two men are to commit suicide, and Sita is to die a
204:—"sensuality, metaphysics, entangled identities, and the problem of love and individuality"—were central to Mann's work. Another theme in the story is the
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in 1954. Set in India, the story is a jocular retelling of an ancient folk legend.
197:. Although the tale is a tragic one, Mann recounts it in a tongue-in-cheek style.
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In the opening sentence Mann refers to her as "Sita of the beautiful hips".
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archetype that can also be seen in several of Mann's works, including
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According to Jens
Rieckmann, despite its exotic setting, the themes of
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350:. At the time of his death he was Professor Emeritus of German at the
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in which Zimmer recounted the old folk tale which became the basis of
251:. This duly happens with little Samadhi-Andhaka lighting the flames.
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141:. It was written in 1940 and published later that year by
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and
Castorp's nightmarish visions of female cannibals in
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whom Mann knew through
Cocteau's friendship with his son
153:. It was one of Mann's last novellas, followed only by
390:"The Gaze of Love Longing and Desire in Thomas Mann's
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346:Jens Rieckmann (1944–2014) was a scholar of German
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19:For the opera by Peggy Glanville-Hicks, see
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249:ritual death on her husband's funeral pyre
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431:, pp. 96–98. Cambridge University Press.
428:The Cambridge Introduction to Thomas Mann
517:Peggy Glanville-Hicks: A Transposed Life
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315:with further inventions by Karnad (1975)
222:. Sita, the central female character of
402:A Companion to the Works of Thomas Mann
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332:The original story is contained in the
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472:Wiggins, Ellwood (11 February 2014).
453:Indian Writing: Critical Perspectives
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647:Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns
520:, pp. 71; 128–131. Pendragon Press.
562:in the 1941 English translation by
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806:Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man
352:University of California, Irvine
820:The Coming Victory of Democracy
536:Gussow, Mel (1 November 1986).
1:
546:. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
480:. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
474:"In Memorium: Jens Rieckmann"
145:. The English translation by
456:, p. 148. Sarup & Sons.
21:The Transposed Heads (opera)
916:1940 German-language novels
311:which combines the plot of
173:Mann subtitled the novella
16:1940 novella by Thomas Mann
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921:Novels adapted into operas
788:The Road to the Churchyard
668:Confessions of Felix Krull
281:, and Ruth Michelly (1957)
38:Cover of the first edition
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721:Disorder and Early Sorrow
538:"Stage: Transposed Heads"
450:Surendran, K. V. (2000).
149:was published in 1941 by
107:Published in English
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478:University of Washington
404:. Boydell & Brewer.
388:Rieckmann, Jens (2004).
936:S. Fischer Verlag books
926:Novellas by Thomas Mann
640:Joseph and His Brothers
514:Murdoch, James (2002).
876:Elisabeth Mann Borgese
813:On the German Republic
767:Little Herr Friedemann
728:Mario and the Magician
274:Les têtes interverties
213:Little Herr Friedemann
131:Die vertauschten Köpfe
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60:Die vertauschten Köpfe
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888:Júlia da Silva Bruhns
742:The Tables of the Law
492:Mann, Thomas (1941).
425:Kontje, Todd (2011).
267:Peggy Glanville-Hicks
169:Background and themes
156:The Tables of the Law
27:The Transposed Heads
735:The Transposed Heads
504:Secker & Warburg
495:The Transposed Heads
392:The Transposed Heads
313:The Transposed Heads
299:(1984, revised 1986)
285:The Transposed Heads
279:Alejandro Jodorowsky
262:The Transposed Heads
224:The Transposed Heads
202:The Transposed Heads
187:The Transposed Heads
122:The Transposed Heads
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54:Original title
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633:The Magic Mountain
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219:The Magic Mountain
181:by the Indologist
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159:in 1944 and
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870:Monika Mann
798:Other works
686:Gladius Dei
604:Thomas Mann
568:archive.org
255:Adaptations
139:Thomas Mann
48:Thomas Mann
910:Categories
878:(daughter)
872:(daughter)
858:Klaus Mann
854:(daughter)
852:Erika Mann
846:Katia Mann
526:1576470776
462:8176251135
437:052176792X
410:1571132198
371:References
304:Hayavadana
896:(brother)
864:Golo Mann
774:The Clown
502:), p. 5.
348:Modernism
86:Publisher
890:(mother)
678:Novellas
111:1941 by
68:Language
693:Tristan
135:novella
133:) is a
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848:(wife)
838:Family
611:Novels
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269:(1954)
127:German
71:German
44:Author
884:(son)
866:(son)
860:(son)
320:Notes
195:Klaus
76:Genre
522:ISBN
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433:ISBN
406:ISBN
394:and
291:and
230:Plot
179:Kali
101:1940
566:on
137:by
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