Thomas Mann: leitmotifs in his novels and short prose fiction

Aspects of Thomas Mann's prose style can be seen in the use of leitmotifs in some of his early stories. The device was not new, since Homer has used it extensively in the ILLIAD and the ODYSSEY. ... Mann's early ERZÄHLUNGEN and BUDDENBROOKS contain many leitmotifs: death, spring, the walnut-tree, the violin, the sea, and the "Liebestod" motif adopted from Act III of Richard Wagner's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE.