3.6
Death in Venice
by Thomas Mann
The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann--here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim with a new introduction by Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
"It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity."
Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustave von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.
Amid this growing fixation, Venice is struck by an epidemic, and the once-idyllic city devolves into a decaying, ominous backdrop that mirrors Aschenbach's inner turmoil. Overwhelmed by his unfulfilled desires and the tension between art, morality, and human passion, he chooses to remain in the city, unable to part from Tadzio's presence.
The novella climaxes as Aschenbach, now physically and emotionally enfeebled, watches Tadzio from a distance on the beach one final time. As the boy gazes out at the sea, symbolizing purity and eternal beauty, Aschenbach succumbs to his own deterioration and dies alone.
Through its rich symbolism and classical references, Death in Venice serves as a meditation on the transcendence of beauty, the frailty of human existence, and the paradox of longing for the unattainable.
DramaAmericanFictionAnthologies (multiple authors)ClassicsLGBTQ+
RELEASED2004
PUBLISHERHarper Collins
LENGTH142
LANGUAGEEN
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the anti-fascist Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the most known exponents of the so called Exilliteratur. ([Source][1]) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann
3.6
Death in Venice
by Thomas Mann
The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann--here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim with a new introduction by Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
"It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity."
Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustave von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.
Amid this growing fixation, Venice is struck by an epidemic, and the once-idyllic city devolves into a decaying, ominous backdrop that mirrors Aschenbach's inner turmoil. Overwhelmed by his unfulfilled desires and the tension between art, morality, and human passion, he chooses to remain in the city, unable to part from Tadzio's presence.
The novella climaxes as Aschenbach, now physically and emotionally enfeebled, watches Tadzio from a distance on the beach one final time. As the boy gazes out at the sea, symbolizing purity and eternal beauty, Aschenbach succumbs to his own deterioration and dies alone.
Through its rich symbolism and classical references, Death in Venice serves as a meditation on the transcendence of beauty, the frailty of human existence, and the paradox of longing for the unattainable.
DramaAmericanFictionAnthologies (multiple authors)ClassicsLGBTQ+GayHistorical
RELEASED2004
PUBLISHERHarper Collins
LENGTH142
LANGUAGEEN
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the anti-fascist Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the most known exponents of the so called Exilliteratur. ([Source][1]) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann
