Book Review of Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
Name of Book: Death in Venice Author: Thomas Mann ISBN: (from Norton Anthology Vol F.) 0-393-97760-9 Publisher: Norton Company Type of book: Venice, plague, homosexual love, philosophy, Germany, 1900s, travel, vacation Year it was published: 1912 Summary: (from wikipedia) The novella Death in Venice was written by the German author Thomas Mann, and was first published in 1912 as Der Tod in Venedig.[1] The plot of the work presents a great writer suffering writer's block who visits Venice and is liberated and uplifted, then increasingly obsessed, by the sight of a stunningly beautiful youth. Characters: The author focuses a lot on the male character and his obsession with the Polish youth named Tadzio. I sense a bit of erotica in the story, and strangely enough there's a Lolita aspect in the fact that the male character is obsessed and in love with a youth who's barely a teenager! While the story is shocking, thankfully there aren't sexual scenes ...