The mythological framework draws on Nietzsche’s Die Geburt der Tragödie The Birth of Tragedy: Aschenbach is an Apollonian artist who descends into Dionysian excess. According to Wolfgang Koeppen this is Thomas Mann’s best work, because of the pain of love which it communicates (see reading list below, p. Aschenbach’s first name and his appearance are drawn from the composer Gustav Mahler (in the Visconti film version, Aschenbach is a composer and not a writer). Aschenbach is a composite figure: he is partly a hypothetical version of Mann himself, who experienced comparable emotions whilst staying in Venice in May-June 1911 however Aschenbach also alludes to the aged Goethe’s infatuation with the teenage Ulrike von Levetzow. Instead the novella delivers a compelling description of Aschenbach’s descent into obsession, as we witness his gradual moral and physical collapse. Aschenbach is well aware that there is a cholera outbreak in Venice, but he stays and catches the disease. Soon, stalking Tadzio around Venice takes precedence over self-preservation. Aschenbach is visibly relieved to cast off his lifelong habit of self-repression. Aschenbach tries to persuade himself that his feelings for Tadzio are Platonic, a form of disinterested aesthetic contemplation, but his wild dreams of tigers and swamps suggest a very different interpretation.
DEATH IN VENICE AUTHOR FULL
The novella is full of references to classical mythology and philosophy, in particular to Plato’s Phaedrus and the Symposium. Aschenbach’s entire being has been dedicated to the pursuit of glory and fame (‘Ruhm’) and a morality of strict steadfastness (‘durchhalten’), but now he dedicates himself instead to the pursuit of Tadzio, a Polish adolescent whom he encounters whilst on holiday in Venice. Gustav von Aschenbach has been made a member of the nobility for his services to German letters, and extracts from his books are taught in schools.
It tells the story of a famous writer in his fifties who is overcome by an illegal passion for a fourteen year-old boy. This novella, which bears comparison with Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, was written between July 1911 and July 1912, and published in 1912. A very deep book with lots of symbolism.Der Tod in Venedig Death in Venice (1912)
While he finds inspiration watching Tadzio, he is too proper to act on his impulses and they go unfulfilled. Von Aschenbach eventually succumbs to the disease. The book is steeped in irony and perhaps the sublime irony is that while he never actually acts on his impulses they cause him to stay even when there is an outbreak of contagion (denied by many residents of the city even as the death toll mounts). His attraction is an inspiration to his writing which begs the question does artistic creation flow from disciplined organization or passionate emotions? This is one of the main themes that intrigued me. He ends up in Venice where he finds himself attracted to a young boy, Tadzio. But one day he has an epiphany and takes trip. He is a widower and his life is highly structured - a fact that he believes is essential to his success as a writer. Von Aschenbach is a successful writer who lives an ascetic lifestyle in Munich. Much of the book explores von Aschenbach's thought processes and internal emotional struggles. However, readers can easily enough find other audio versions, should they seek to listen to this work of literature ( )Īn interesting book rife with metaphors, this is a more cerebral read - meaning that there is not much dialogue or action. While several internet sites offer audio excerpts of this particular release, the audio excerpts are limited to the introduction by a different reader thus there's no way to preview Callow's narration. for the most part, listening to this reading is rather like hearing a Beethoven symphony delivered at an insensitive gallop, as if the producer is under orders to economize on recording time. Most of the time, Callow rattles along, deaf to the implications of what he's reading, like someone hurrying to a much more congenial engagement and mildly irritated that he must first plough through so many words. His narration has been strongly criticized by a reviewer at Amazon (Enobarbus) as follows: Callow reads at a brusque, unrelenting pace and in such a monochrome register that Mann's rich poetry is reduced to functional prose. Simon Callow is the narrator of this particular release. Clocking in at about 3 hours, the audio version helped me appreciate its quality. The short novel, Death In Venice, is a magnificent work of literature.
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