The novel "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann is obligatory reading in Switzerland
(at least when I had been in high school).
The magic mountain features the number 7. (An
article about this. There are 7 important characters
- Castorp, the engineer
- Settembrini, the writer
- Naphta, the professor
- Chauchat, the beauty
- Peeperkorn, the tragedy
- Ziemsen, the officer
- Behrens, the director
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From Wikipedia:
Mann makes use of the number seven, often believed to have magical qualities:
- Castorp was seven when his parents died;
- he stays seven years at the Berghof, from the years 1907 to 1914;
- the central Walpurgis Night scene happens after seven months,
- both cousins of Castorp have seven letters in their last name,
- the dining hall has seven tables,
- Madame Chauchat is initially assigned room number 7,
- the digits of Castorp's room number (34) add up to seven, and
- Joachim's room is a multiple of seven (28).
- Settembrini's name includes 'seven' (sette) in Italian,
- Joachim keeps a thermometer in his mouth for seven minutes, and
- Mynheer Peeperkorn announces his suicide in a group of seven.
- Joachim decides to leave after a stay of seven times seventy days,
- and dies at seven o'clock.
- The novel itself, moreover, is divided into seven chapters.
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