At the 300-page mark. By now, it is clear that young Hans Castorp has contracted tubercolosis and become intoxicated - infatuated - with Claudia Chauchat. Castorp has also somewhat disturbingly declared war on Ludovico Settembrini, the most entertaining, eloquent character in the book so far.
Precisely because of its want in my life, I find I am enjoying Mann's description of the tensions and release of tensions that fill the days of the patients in the rareified altitude of the Berghof.
But it seems that distinctions between acceptable love and deplorable stalking, infiltration, and staring seem immaterial to Castorp. To my mind, the purple-cheeked Director would, in today's society, have long since had a stern word with Castorp, at the insistence of Chauchat herself...
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