Name: Death in Venice
Rating: 3.544871794871795 (78 reviews)

Kenneth Burke

Thomas Mann

An aging German writer, on holiday in Venice, becomes intrigued by a youth whose remote beauty embodies the classic ideal.

Death in Venice

Christian

Things get interesting once the plague appears and the progress finds himself transferring into the charity of a young and healthy man, like the drunken dandy he observed one the beginning of the story

Ivy X

Read for Complit-obsessions, passions, and desires class 
Probably would give it a 3.5.
There's a lot of description in this story revolving around a writer who is obsessed with the beauty of this boy. Enjoy the analysis I get in class from this book. Interesting.

The Nobel Prize–winning author’s masterful novella of eros and obsession, presented alongside other short works of lyrical beauty and psychological depth. In Thomas Mann’s immortal novella A Death in Venice, renowned author Gustave Aschenbach faces both middle age and a severe case of writer’s block. He resolves to go on holiday in search of inspiration, only to find himself awestruck by the classical beauty of a fourteen-year-old boy. Submitting to his obsession with the youth, Gustave slowly loses himself, his dignity, and finally his life. This volume includes six short works by Mann, including “Little Herr Friedmann,” “Gladius Dei,” Tristan,” and “Tonio Kroger,” among others.

And Other Stories

Trever

2.5/5. Although it grabbed me with its style, Death in Venice lacked something. It felt detached from the characters, despite being able to dig into Gustav von Aschenbach's mind. The prose was more focused on physical description and philosophical musings than the psychological depth of the characters. But maybe it's just me, I don't know.

One of the most famous literary works of the 20th century, the novella "Death in Venice" embodies themes that preoccupied Thomas Mann (1875–1955) in much of his work; the duality of art and life, the presence of death and disintegration in the midst of existence, the connection between love and suffering, and the conflict between the artist and his inner self. Mann's handling of these concerns in this story of a middle-aged German writer, torn by his passion for a Polish youth met on holiday in Venice, resulted in a work of great psychological intensity and tragic power. It is presented here in an excellent new translation with extensive commentary on many facets of the story.

Christopher McCaffery

Tina

amasi

Arman Keyvanskhou

"Death in Venice, " tells about a ruinous quest for love and beauty amid degenerating splendor. Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but lonely author, travels to the Queen of the Adriatic in search of an elusive spiritual fulfillment that turns into his erotic doom. Spellbound by a beautiful Polish boy, he finds himself fettered to this hypnotic city of sun-drenched sensuality and eerie physical decay as it gradually succumbs to a secret epidemic. In his novella "Tonio Kroger, " Mann poetically traces a young writer's struggle between bourgeois strictures and artistic genius. Skillful dialogue and language reflect the title character's emotional conflicts, especially in his wistful visit to his home town and his sentimental journey to the Baltic. "Gladius Dei, " in contrast, is a sardonic depiction of a self-styled warrior of God, who battles against the sexual openness and profanity of Munich, the art center of northern Europe. In "The Blood of the Walsungs, " set in turn-of-the-century Berlin, a wealthy Jewish family, modeled after the family of Thomas Mann's wife, is excoriated in a Wagnerian evening that ends in self-loathing and self-loving incest.

Death in Venice

Reviews

Highlights