Translated by Kenneth Burke, Introduction by Erich Heller
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Regret Comes From Lack of Self-Awareness:
Thomas Mann has taken an ages old theme, the attraction of an older, worn out man for a youthful boy, dressed it up in a series of classical allusions, and details how this attraction merely accelerates the decay of the man whose decline began long before he first saw the boy. In DEATH IN VENICE, Gustave von Aschenbach is a German writer living in pre-World War I Europe, who has been trying to balance the struggles involved in maintaining his hard-worn writing laurels with the demands those struggles have... more info
Gorgeous:
Mann's masterpiece is an achingly beautiful, exquisitely crafted, spellbinding exploration of beauty, age, love, sex, life, and of course death. I can think of no other book where the setting so effectively establishes the book's atmosphere, so powerfully reinforces its themes and ideas. The plot is so simple, yet wrapped in layers of meaning, both inviting and resisting interpretation. This book is short yet incredibly rich; it reminds me of a tiny, delicately carved precious jewel. And what a... more info
Poetic Pedophilia:
I did not like this book as much as many of the other reviewers. The main problem I had was that I simply could not relate to Aschenbach, the protaganist of the story. I mean, I thought that his obsession with the male child was weird. Unlike Lolita, there was no dark humor in the obsession. There was just a very raw, profound, longing and appreciation for the beauty of the young child. I found that somewhat sick and I cannot say that I've ever had many of the feelings that Aschenbach relates in the... more info
Excellent Translation in Dover Edition - Helpful Commentary:
Death in Venice (1912) is a disturbing story, one that is not easy to forget. It is also exceptional literature, a classic of the twentieth century. Thomas Mann's Death in Venice might be best compared to the subtle, psychologically complex fiction of Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. In Munich the aging, highly respected author Gustav Aschenbach is in need of change, rest in a new setting, to overcome his growing fatigue that is impacting his writing. While recovering in Venice,... more info
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