The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann)
Tempting to say that if The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann did not exist Literature would not be what it is today. Mann has created characters with such consistency, we began to see them as if they were real people: Hans Castorp (The Magic Mountain), Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) or Adrian Leverkühn (Doctor Faustus). The Magic Mountain is, unquestionably, one of the best literary pieces ever.