Death in Venice in The Roundtable

Jun 07, 2019 Henk rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Isolation, death and strange longing fills the main character of this novella from literally the first chapter and it doesn’t end well
His intoxication was too precious

Obsession is the name of the game and Munich based writer Gustave von Aschenbach his midlife crisis leads to death in plague filled Venice. I did want to go on holiday and see Venice again, so atmosphere wise Thomas Mann is doing a good job, but to say we really understand Aschenbach after reading the novella goes a stretch far.

He ...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2016 Petra rated it liked it

An interesting and strange little story. I listened to the audio, translated by Michael Henry Heim. The prose is lyrical and easy to listen to.
In the introduction by Michael Cunningham, he states that this translation is more humane and kind to Gustav von Aschenbach than the earlier translation by Porter. Porter apparently made Aschenbach into a lecherous, vile old man. I don’t know if that is true but keeping it in mind, I have to say that this translation didn't make me think of Aschenbach as An interesting and strange little story. I listened to the audio, translated by Michael Henry Heim. The prose is lyrical and easy to listen to.
In the introduction by Michael Cunningham, he states that this translation is more humane and kind to Gustav von Aschenbach than the earlier translation by Porter. Porter apparently made Aschenbach into a lecherous, vile old man. I don’t know if that is true but keeping it in mind, I have to say that this translation didn't make me think of Aschenbach as such.
Aschenbach was a sad figure of a man, for sure, having spent a lifetime in social, personal and professional constraints and confinements. Here is a man who, except for a brief & happy marriage, had no fun or humour in his life at all. He did what he was expected to do, when he was expected to do it and responded as expected….at all times. The pressure of such a life whether one is conscious of it or not, must be enormous.
He goes to Venice, where the city is sweltering under brutal summer heat and suffering from some unnamed infectious disease that carries people off to the graveyard in the background. On the beach he sees a beautiful 14-year old boy named Tadzio and becomes besotted with him.
As the story unfolds, one could look at the story as Porter apparently described it and see an old man following a young boy around town and lusting after him. On the other hand, as it comes across to me in Heim’s translation, it could also be of an old man seeing a young free boy who has his life ahead of him being carefree, enjoying that life and Ashenbach becoming besotted with that (the freedom & life). The boy is a symbol of all that Aschenbach never had in his life. The boy could be a young Aschenbach given a second opportunity. Aschenbach and the boy could be one and the same except for the different circumstances molding them.
Heim gave Aschenbach a dignity of sorts. Sure, he’s chasing after a boy but he never touches him or seems to want to touch him. He just wants to observe him and somehow be a part of that life & joy that Tadzio experiences. Aschenbach wants that freedom and joy of living, rather than wanting the boy.
Aschenbach is a sad figure, having lived such a dull, restrained life but he embraces life in the end in this small, observational way and the small amount of freedom he got through watching and following Tadzio gave Aschenbach’s life a dignity it didn't have before.
I’d like to read the book one day. I think there’s a lot more depth to this than I got out of the audio while commuting through traffic. It’s beautifully worded, it’s a sad story, it could possibly have lecherous aspects to it but it’s also about dignity in some aspect and this translation removed the lechery feeling the story could have had. I think there’s more depth and meaning to this than I got out of it while listening.
This is the first of Mann’s books that I’ve read and I look forward to his other works in future.
...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2009 El rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-early, 1001-books-list

There are some wonderful short stories in this collection, but the real meat of the book is, of course, the title novella, Death in Venice. I'm in no way diminishing the other stories and highly recommend them but still, moving right along...

Gustav von Aschenbach is a middle-aged writer who decides he needs to do a little traveling to find self-fulfillment and chooses Venice as his destination. While there he falls in love with (or obsessed with, it's all a very thin line) a young Polish boy, Ta ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2013 Karen Michele Burns rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books-completed

I was searching books set in Venice when I came across Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. I didn't really pay any attention to what it was about, but thought it was a murder mystery from the Agatha Christie-like title. My copy from the library didn't have a synopsis, so I jumped right in. What struck me about the writing from the start was the sense of atmosphere and foreshadowing that Mann achieved. It took me a while to realize that even though the book carried a sense of impending doom in its pag ...more

Like · see review