An Anecdote

Today's Opinion Journal has spoilers [sic] for Thomas Mann's philosophical tome, The Magic Mountain. This fills me with nostalgia for the days when I discovered Mann's works, oddly eulogized here. Also, I narrowly escaped a beating when, driving with some friends past an exit for "Magic Mountain" Amusement park, I turned down a suggestion to stop there by saying, "Nah, I've read the book."