Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Vintage (1963), Paperback, 404 pages
Description
Translates twentieth-century Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice," as well seven of his short stories: "Tonio Kroger," "Mario and the Magician," "Disorder and Early Sorrow," "A Man and His Dog," "The Blood of the Walsungs," "Tristan," and "Felix Krull."
User reviews
LibraryThing member CBJames
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann is a story of obsession and isolation. Aschenbach, a writer of rarefied fictions, takes a holiday to Venice where he sees a beautiful youth of 15 years. He is immediately taken in by the boy's beauty and very quickly becomes obsessed with him. Aschenbach finds he is
Is Aschenbach a man in love or just a man obsessed? He learns as much as he can about Tadzio from secondhand sources like the hotel barber, but his knowledge remains so limited that the Tazio he comes to love is largely a Tadzio of his own imagination. Aschenbach can see what the boy looks like, but he does not know him in any real way. Aschenbach indulges in his obsession, staying on at the hotel as long as he can, in spite of the very real threat of a cholera outbreak in the emptying city.
The city becomes a metaphor for Aschebach. Its decay, its age, its vulnerablity to disease are all mirrored in Aschenbach. The facade Venice puts on to attract visitors is mirrored in the fancy suits the fifty plus man wears in an attempt to make himself attractive. Neither the city nor the man can do much to really attract the attentions of a beautiful youth, those days are gone for both. The city provides attractions for the boy's aging mother and aunt who've brought their children in tow; the man can do nothing more than follow along trying to steal a glimpse of the youth he will not have again in any form.
For all of its melancholy, all of its atmosphere of decay and the fact that the main character never talks to the object of his desire, Death in Venice is a highly readable story. While I did not really like Aschenbach at first, and I honestly can't say that I'm too fond of him by the end either, his story does become compelling. He does become a sympathetic character in spite of it all. By then end our understanding of what is happening to him has deepened making his story a haunting one.
I'm giving Death in Venice by Thomas Mann five out of five stars.
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staying at the same hotel as the boy, so he studies the boy's daily habits, making sure that he is at the beach when the boy will be, ready for breakfast when the boy is, he even follows his family when the boy goes on tours of the city. He never attempts to meet the boy or to speak with him though he does learn his name, Tadzio, and quite a bit of his family history.Is Aschenbach a man in love or just a man obsessed? He learns as much as he can about Tadzio from secondhand sources like the hotel barber, but his knowledge remains so limited that the Tazio he comes to love is largely a Tadzio of his own imagination. Aschenbach can see what the boy looks like, but he does not know him in any real way. Aschenbach indulges in his obsession, staying on at the hotel as long as he can, in spite of the very real threat of a cholera outbreak in the emptying city.
The city becomes a metaphor for Aschebach. Its decay, its age, its vulnerablity to disease are all mirrored in Aschenbach. The facade Venice puts on to attract visitors is mirrored in the fancy suits the fifty plus man wears in an attempt to make himself attractive. Neither the city nor the man can do much to really attract the attentions of a beautiful youth, those days are gone for both. The city provides attractions for the boy's aging mother and aunt who've brought their children in tow; the man can do nothing more than follow along trying to steal a glimpse of the youth he will not have again in any form.
For all of its melancholy, all of its atmosphere of decay and the fact that the main character never talks to the object of his desire, Death in Venice is a highly readable story. While I did not really like Aschenbach at first, and I honestly can't say that I'm too fond of him by the end either, his story does become compelling. He does become a sympathetic character in spite of it all. By then end our understanding of what is happening to him has deepened making his story a haunting one.
I'm giving Death in Venice by Thomas Mann five out of five stars.
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LibraryThing member figre
For me (and how often is that the caveat when we feel we have read something important that did not resonate), this is a group of remarkably uninspired stories. There is lush detail, no doubt. The descriptions of the places and the people are brought to life. But there is nothing to tell about
For me to understand the power of Thomas Mann will take the reading of some other materials. And reading these has meant that it will be a while before I try again.
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them. And, when something is told, I found little to resonate so that I cared what was happening. The best of this group is “Mario and the Magician” about a magician with apparent mind control abilities who embarrasses the wrong person during his show. In this case, the descriptions of the character and the locale all built to support the story (which supported the characters and the locale.) The absolute worst – “A Man and His Dog”. I like dogs just as well as the next person, but this is more than I ever wanted to know. It feels like the author was trying to complete a required word count for submission to a collection of original stories about dogs (and I’ll bet this shows up in many of such collections.)For me to understand the power of Thomas Mann will take the reading of some other materials. And reading these has meant that it will be a while before I try again.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This may be the best short novel ever written and is certainly one of the best I have read. The plot tells the story of the writer Gustav von Aschenbach who travels to Venice, where he falls in love with an adolescent boy before subsequently dying in the cholera-stricken city. Mann’s masterly
Aschenbach is introduced as an esteemed author who has produced literary works known for their formalism and neo-classical style. He has chosen an ascetic, disciplined life, a life of “noble purity, simplicity and symmetry”, for the sake of his creativity, success and national reputation. At the beginning of Death in Venice, we find the fifty-three year old writer unable to write a perfectly balanced work. He decides to take a walk by the north cemetery in an unnamed town that can be identified as Munich. The year, presented in the text as “19—”, is actually 1911. Since Mann opted not to provide a precise date, the narrative contains a timeless, ahistorical dimension despite being grounded in contemporary events.
In the figure of a stranger whom Aschenbach sees at a chapel by the cemetery, Mann alludes to medieval personifications of death, and also to the Greek god Hermes, the guide to the Underworld. But the messenger of death is also a messenger of life. The text links him to the cult of life and the god of Asian origins, Dionysos. Mann's intention was to write a treatise on the Nietzschean contrast between the god of reason, Apollo, and the god of unreason, Dionysus.
In his description of Aschenbach’s journey into Venice, Mann includes encounters with a Charon-like figure, and an old man bereft of dignity. These characters serve as messengers signalling Aschenbach’s looming fate, and as conspicuous representations of the transience and ugliness of life.
The Venice depicted by Mann is "the fallen queen, flattering and dubious beauty . . . half fairy tale, half tourist trap". It is a vision presented in its sordid reality and in its mythical splendor. At the hotel Aschenbach catches sight of a beautiful, fourteen-year-old Polish boy named Tadzio who is vacationing with his family. Aschenbach is immediately attracted to him, comparing him to a Greek statue and an artistic masterpiece. Although the sultry air of Venice makes him feel unwell, he reverses his intention to leave the city. From now on, his life is controlled by his desire to continue to observe Tadzio.
With references to the Platonic idea that physical attraction leads to spiritual knowledge, Mann diverts readers from the fact that Aschenbach’s attraction to Tadzio is primarily physical, not metaphysical. The ability of Thomas Mann to weave together character and theme and setting to achieve this perfection is uncanny and I do not believe he achieved any better in his longer fictions, great as they are. This is also one of the few novels that received a superlative treatment on film though, in the end, Visconti's film does not surpass the original.
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command of language and play with mythology, his psychological profile of the artistic mind, and the novella’s contrast between cold artistic discipline and the power of love has generated great admiration. Aschenbach is introduced as an esteemed author who has produced literary works known for their formalism and neo-classical style. He has chosen an ascetic, disciplined life, a life of “noble purity, simplicity and symmetry”, for the sake of his creativity, success and national reputation. At the beginning of Death in Venice, we find the fifty-three year old writer unable to write a perfectly balanced work. He decides to take a walk by the north cemetery in an unnamed town that can be identified as Munich. The year, presented in the text as “19—”, is actually 1911. Since Mann opted not to provide a precise date, the narrative contains a timeless, ahistorical dimension despite being grounded in contemporary events.
In the figure of a stranger whom Aschenbach sees at a chapel by the cemetery, Mann alludes to medieval personifications of death, and also to the Greek god Hermes, the guide to the Underworld. But the messenger of death is also a messenger of life. The text links him to the cult of life and the god of Asian origins, Dionysos. Mann's intention was to write a treatise on the Nietzschean contrast between the god of reason, Apollo, and the god of unreason, Dionysus.
In his description of Aschenbach’s journey into Venice, Mann includes encounters with a Charon-like figure, and an old man bereft of dignity. These characters serve as messengers signalling Aschenbach’s looming fate, and as conspicuous representations of the transience and ugliness of life.
The Venice depicted by Mann is "the fallen queen, flattering and dubious beauty . . . half fairy tale, half tourist trap". It is a vision presented in its sordid reality and in its mythical splendor. At the hotel Aschenbach catches sight of a beautiful, fourteen-year-old Polish boy named Tadzio who is vacationing with his family. Aschenbach is immediately attracted to him, comparing him to a Greek statue and an artistic masterpiece. Although the sultry air of Venice makes him feel unwell, he reverses his intention to leave the city. From now on, his life is controlled by his desire to continue to observe Tadzio.
With references to the Platonic idea that physical attraction leads to spiritual knowledge, Mann diverts readers from the fact that Aschenbach’s attraction to Tadzio is primarily physical, not metaphysical. The ability of Thomas Mann to weave together character and theme and setting to achieve this perfection is uncanny and I do not believe he achieved any better in his longer fictions, great as they are. This is also one of the few novels that received a superlative treatment on film though, in the end, Visconti's film does not surpass the original.
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LibraryThing member Rosemarie.Herbert
This review has been crossposted from my blog Review from Rose's Book Reviews Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me.
'Death in Venice' is an assigned text for one of my literature classes. It is a collection of short stories by Thomas Mann, including his possibly most famous - the same
The title story, Death in Venice, is about Aschenbach, an aging writer who falls in lust with a younger boy when taking a holiday. The work is resplendent with images and symbols, and to be fair, it is a very good text to analyse. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but it wasn't bad either.
I couldn't tell you whether it is a great example of Modernism - but it is according to my tutor. The story lacks a concrete feeling to the ending, which is something I personally hate. I'm also not very fond of short stories, as I feel like I never get to know the characters well before they are killed off. This story is more like a short novella though, and there is room for some 'plot' development.
Although not required for my class, I read a number of the other short stories in the book. I found them all to expand on the same themes of death and wanton destruction, and felt like once you had read one, you would expect the ending of the next to be the same (and indeed it is, with some subtle twists).
This book of short stories is certainly not suitable for younger readers. Adults may struggle with the uncomfortable, and often graphic, contents of the novel. This is not something I would normally read, and I probably wouldn't seek out any of his other works.
'Death in Venice' is an assigned text for one of my literature classes. It is a collection of short stories by Thomas Mann, including his possibly most famous - the same
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titled Death in Venice. Mann is the perfect example of a Modernist writer, and by no means are his works comfortable to read. But read on!The title story, Death in Venice, is about Aschenbach, an aging writer who falls in lust with a younger boy when taking a holiday. The work is resplendent with images and symbols, and to be fair, it is a very good text to analyse. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but it wasn't bad either.
I couldn't tell you whether it is a great example of Modernism - but it is according to my tutor. The story lacks a concrete feeling to the ending, which is something I personally hate. I'm also not very fond of short stories, as I feel like I never get to know the characters well before they are killed off. This story is more like a short novella though, and there is room for some 'plot' development.
Although not required for my class, I read a number of the other short stories in the book. I found them all to expand on the same themes of death and wanton destruction, and felt like once you had read one, you would expect the ending of the next to be the same (and indeed it is, with some subtle twists).
This book of short stories is certainly not suitable for younger readers. Adults may struggle with the uncomfortable, and often graphic, contents of the novel. This is not something I would normally read, and I probably wouldn't seek out any of his other works.
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LibraryThing member anabellebf
I am not used to modernist prose. This story, however, is crystal-clear in its intentions - you know the end before you even start reading it. The narrator makes his own comparisons very obvious, and goes to the lenght of explaining his own mythology. It was an enjoyable read, however not among my
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favourites. Show Less
LibraryThing member vikEE1
I haven't read all the stories in this book but loved "Death in Venice," very deep story, yes, a bit depressing but you really got into Acshenbach's mind & psyche, ...plus I love the setting, Venice is gorgeous!!
LibraryThing member cendri
I was recommended this book on the basis that I would like the main character. Which I did, as I have a horrible weakness for old stoic men. Death in Venice was fascinating, and I highly recommend it as Modernist (or Post, I don't remember) reading.
LibraryThing member lethalmauve
A tricky collection of short stories that often deals with the consequences of obsession, the Prey is often unreachable and distant yet palpable enough to propel the characters to delve deep down the dark depths of overindulgence. The Predator broods. Frequently, it's too late to extricate
It seems that this collection I procured have different contents compared to what others have around here. Maybe if this collection was comprised of what the others have I would've appreciate it better.
Death in Venice (3.5/5)
Hyper-fixation on a beautiful young boy who undoubtedly represents the frame of youth and the envy plus the repressed desire it entails. This is probably one of the most popular short stories of Mann. Beautiful words.
Tonio Kröger (3.5/5)
An ordinary story with extraordinary prose about an artist as an outcast to society. It's rather depressing and remorseful.
Mario and the Magician (3/5)
A taxing and underwhelming story if not for its themes of liberalism and liberty amidst the growing fascism in Germany which are not too apparent until I made my research.
Disorder and Early Sorrow (2.5/5)
I am still not very sure what this is about. A family chronicle, perhaps, but not that interesting and, well, forgettable. Ask me about it and my mind is blank. Regarded as a portrait of Mann's own family.
A Man and His Dog (4/5)
Dogs, these silly, adorable creatures which always occupy an affectionate space in our hearts. A delightful tale of the adventures of a man and his dog. Tender and amusing, it is another evidence as to why dogs are considered as a man's best friend.
The Blood of the Walsungs (4/5)
Is the most forbidden fruit the most delicious? This short story is both unsettling and (I'm making a stretch) a little disgusting then climaxes (pun not intended) to a sense of emotional revenge. This is intriguingly the most compelling short story in this collection for me. It has left me disturbed and I cannot forget it.
Tristan (3.5/5)
An unrequited love in a sanatorium, anti-romantic with a case of delusions and assumptions like a case of beer you binge in the middle of a wearisome night. A juxtaposition to Tristan and Isolde.
Felix Krull (3/5)
Another narrative chronicling the downfall of a wealthy family and the inevitable change in social status that forces its members to adapt to things they are unaccustomed to (or not). It is paragraphs and paragraphs of family drama that we've all seen in soap operas ending in a sad but not surprising note.
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themselves from it. Some can be a little inane whilst the other short stories mirror the brewing political turmoil in Germany during Mann's time.It seems that this collection I procured have different contents compared to what others have around here. Maybe if this collection was comprised of what the others have I would've appreciate it better.
Death in Venice (3.5/5)
Hyper-fixation on a beautiful young boy who undoubtedly represents the frame of youth and the envy plus the repressed desire it entails. This is probably one of the most popular short stories of Mann. Beautiful words.
Tonio Kröger (3.5/5)
An ordinary story with extraordinary prose about an artist as an outcast to society. It's rather depressing and remorseful.
Mario and the Magician (3/5)
A taxing and underwhelming story if not for its themes of liberalism and liberty amidst the growing fascism in Germany which are not too apparent until I made my research.
Disorder and Early Sorrow (2.5/5)
I am still not very sure what this is about. A family chronicle, perhaps, but not that interesting and, well, forgettable. Ask me about it and my mind is blank. Regarded as a portrait of Mann's own family.
A Man and His Dog (4/5)
Dogs, these silly, adorable creatures which always occupy an affectionate space in our hearts. A delightful tale of the adventures of a man and his dog. Tender and amusing, it is another evidence as to why dogs are considered as a man's best friend.
The Blood of the Walsungs (4/5)
Is the most forbidden fruit the most delicious? This short story is both unsettling and (I'm making a stretch) a little disgusting then climaxes (pun not intended) to a sense of emotional revenge. This is intriguingly the most compelling short story in this collection for me. It has left me disturbed and I cannot forget it.
Tristan (3.5/5)
An unrequited love in a sanatorium, anti-romantic with a case of delusions and assumptions like a case of beer you binge in the middle of a wearisome night. A juxtaposition to Tristan and Isolde.
Felix Krull (3/5)
Another narrative chronicling the downfall of a wealthy family and the inevitable change in social status that forces its members to adapt to things they are unaccustomed to (or not). It is paragraphs and paragraphs of family drama that we've all seen in soap operas ending in a sad but not surprising note.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jonbrammer
Exposition, exposition, exposition. Mann is the painterly sort of writer who seems to think that if you describe a setting with enough detail, then the conflict will naturally emerge. This seems like an impressionistic mode of writing - we learn a lot of odds and ends about each protagonist in each
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story before we understand what the story is actually about. The author in the title story spends time traveling in southern Europe and eventually ends up in Europe, has an encounter with a gondolier, ends up in a hotel where he becomes obsessed with a young Polish boy. The point? Well, the point seems to be create a mood of unresolved foreboding. Readers who need clear plot structure will probably be frustrated by Mann. This collection of stories makes me want to investigate his novels. Thanks for reading my review. Show Less
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1954
Physical description
404 p.; 6.9 inches
ISBN
0394700031 / 9780394700038