Ten of the best visits to the cinema in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best visits to the cinema in literature.

One novel on the list:

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

In this 1924 novel, Hans Castorp watches a silent film. He is amazed by "life chopped into small sections ... a restless, jerky fluctuation of appearing and disappearing ... which set its tempo to the phantasmagoria of the past, and with the narrowest of means at its command, yet managed to evoke a whole gamut of pomp and solemnity, passion, abandon, and gurgling sensuality".

Read about another book on the list.

The Magic Mountain also appears on Brian Dillon's list of the five best books on hypochondria and Arthur Phillips' list of five novels about life during the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire.

--Marshal Zeringue