Death in Venice

By Thomas Mann

A famous author in his early fifties travels to Venice alone and succumbs to a deep obsession with an exquisitely beautiful adolescent boy in Thomas Mann's iconic novella.

Featuring an exclusive introduction from Colm Tóibín and an excerpt from his most recent novel The Magician.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribner
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982189440

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, and essayist. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. Mann won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929.

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Cover: Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann

Death in Venice

Now with an excerpt from THE MAGICIAN by Colm Tóibín

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Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann, Scribner

Note to the Reader

In September 2021, Scribner will publish Colm Tóibín’s magnificent new novel, The Magician, about the novelist Thomas Mann, his family, and the places and times in which he lived—Germany before and after World War I and years of exile in Switzerland, France, and the United States after the rise of Hitler.

In The Magician, Tóibín describes Mann’s infatuation with a boy he sees on an Italian holiday, who inspired him to write Death in Venice.

Turn the pages for a note from Tóibín and an excerpt from The Magician.

Introduction by Colm Tóibín

In 1996, I reviewed three biographies of Thomas Mann. While I knew his work, having read Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, and Death in Venice in my late teens and Doctor Faustus in my early twenties, until I read the biographies and then Mann’s Diaries, I knew little about his personal life.

As I read three versions of his life, it came clear to me that Thomas Mann’s dream life was his real life. And his dream life came in two guises. He spent every morning in his study reimagining his own life, or creating lives for characters whom he had conjured up. Also, he thought constantly about a sexual life that was not available to him, that would have to reside mostly in eager thoughts about young men.

There was so much concealment. Thomas Mann was the most respectable German of his time, the father of six children. Even when Death in Venice appeared in 1912, no one imagined that it was based on real desires, real happenings.

What really inspired my novel The Magician was a short book by Mann’s wife, Katia, called Unwritten Memories, published in 1974 when she was ninety-one, in which she emerges as a most complex person, not at all the sad, long-suffering wife of a homosexual man, but someone spirited, intelligent and good-humored. I became interested in making a portrait of her as much as him.

Katia was under no illusions about Thomas. She remembered that sojourn in Venice in 1911: Then we went to the hotel where we had reservations—Hotel des Bains—right on the beach. It was very crowded, and in the dining-room, on the very first day, we saw the Polish family, which looked exactly the way my husband described them: the girls were dressed rather stiffly and severely, and the very charming, beautiful boy of about thirteen was wearing a sailor suit with an open collar and pretty lacings. He caught my husband’s attention immediately. The boy was tremendously attractive, and my husband was always watching him with his companions on the beach. He didn’t pursue him through all of Venice—that he didn’t do—but the boy did fascinate him, and he thought of him often.

In the story, Katia makes clear, her husband transferred to Aschenbach [the protagonist] the pleasure he actually took in this charming boy, stylizing it into extreme passion.

In Death in Venice, we watch Thomas Mann’s strategies of concealment and disclosure. His bookish protagonist comes to Venice alone—Mann visited with his wife and his brother Heinrich—arriving by sea, as the Manns did, staying in the Hotel des Bains on the Lido, as the Manns did. Other small details, such as the Neapolitan singer, the lost luggage, the fear of cholera, all came directly from the Manns’ visit. Thus, everything was based on reality, even down to the details, Katia wrote, "but no one besides Thomas Mann would have been able to make them into Death in Venice."

What Mann added to his own experience was something that fiction itself has but life does not—a sense of pattern, a way of allowing images to be resonant and mysterious, an aura of completion. Figures appear in the story, such as the stranger at the graveyard in Munich or the gondolier who tries to cheat Aschenbach, who are not needed for the plot and do not play an essential role in the story. And yet, as ghostly figures, they serve to haunt the narrative, offer it a sort of shivering undercurrent to do with death and disappearance. They unsettle the order of things.

What we note from Mann’s diaries, his letters and his speeches was how orderly his mind was, indeed how ordinary. His fiction then left him free to explore more dangerous territory. In Death in Venice, not only is forbidden desire evoked, but there are images of wonders and terrors that fascinate Aschenbach, that emerge as both beauty and decay until the story becomes, in one of its layers, a metaphor for a battle going on in the German imagination between charm and chaos.

Mann, in his work, imagined this German writer in Death in Venice, as later in his career he would write a novel called The Beloved Returns about the actual German writer Goethe, in which he dramatized Goethe’s falling in love in old age with a much younger woman. In both cases, he had a story to work from, to complete.

When Henry James contemplated the sources for his fiction, he insisted that he loved half a story, or a story whose shape was not fully apparent. He could then put shape on it, as Mann put shape on his own stay in Venice or on what facts he had about Goethe’s life.

For Mann’s sojourn in Venice in the spring of 1911, we do not have a complete picture. We have Katia’s account and Thomas’s story, very little else. This left me free, when writing The Magician, to imagine where the Manns went in the city, what churches, museums and galleries they visited. Of course, just as Mann used life to make his story, I used the places I myself know in Venice for my version of the Manns’ time there. I placed them in the Frari, looking at Titian’s painting of the Assumption, and then take them to the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, where paintings by Carpaccio hang. I have Mann stand in these two spaces in Venice because I know them. I have stood in them myself. I gave what I imagined roots, a sort of anchor in palpable memory.

I could see him there in a way that was more vivid because I had chosen buildings and paintings that had captured my imagination long before I had thought of the novel The Magician.

A few years before she wrote Unwritten Memories, Katia Mann noted that her daughter received a letter from an elderly Polish aristocrat, a count, who wrote that something funny had happened. Some time ago friends had brought him the Polish translation of a novella in which he and his whole family were described to a T; he found this very amusing and intriguing. Such was the end of the ‘real’ story.

The other story, the imagined one, appeared in 1912. I still remember, Katia writes, that my uncle, Privy Counselor Friedberg, a famous professor of canon law in Leipzig, was outraged: ‘What a story! And a married man with a family!’

In my novel The Magician, as they walked through Venice in 1911, Heinrich Mann says: It seems to me that nothing will happen in the world again. How hard it must have been to foresee the horrors of the First World War, the rise of Hitler, the Holocaust, the Second World War! The story Death in Venice seems immensely innocent against what was to come, but in its undertones we can hear a sickly-sweet music, a sense of longing, an aura of decay, the gap between northern Europe and the South. All of these elements would play their part in the tragedy that was to come, that would change the lives of Thomas and Katia Mann more than they had ever imagined.

Keep reading for a preview of

The Magician

by

Colm Tóibín

Lübeck, 1891

His mother waited upstairs while the servants took coats and scarves and hats from the guests. Until everyone had been ushered into the drawing room, Julia Mann remained in her bedroom. Thomas and his older brother Heinrich and their sisters Lula and Carla watched from the first landing. Soon, they knew, their mother would appear. Heinrich had to warn Carla to be quiet or they would be told to go to bed and they would miss the moment. Their baby brother Viktor was sleeping in an upper room.

With her hair pinned back severely and tied in a colored bow, Julia stepped out from her bedroom. Her dress was white, and her black shoes, ordered specially from Majorca, were simple like a dancer’s shoes.

She joined the company with an air of reluctance, giving the impression that she had, just now, been alone with herself in a place more interesting than festive Lübeck.

On coming into the drawing room, having glanced around her, Julia would find among the guests one person, usually a man, someone unlikely such as old Herr Kellinghusen, who was neither young nor old, or Franz Cadovius, his squint inherited from his mother, or Judge August Leverkühn, with his thin lips and clipped mustache, and this man would become the focus of her attention.

Her allure came from the atmosphere of foreignness and fragility that she exuded with such charm.

Yet there was kindness in her flashing eyes as she asked her guest about work and family and plans for the summer, and, speaking of the summer, she would wish to know about the relative comfort of various hotels in Travemünde, and then she would ask about grand hotels in places as distant as Trouville or Collioure or some resort on the Adriatic.

And soon she would pose an unsettling question. She would ask what her interlocutor thought about some normal and respectable woman within their group of associates. The suggestion was that this woman’s private life was a matter of some controversy and speculation among the burghers of the town. Young Frau Stavenhitter, or Frau Mackenthun, or old Fraulein Distelmann. Or someone even more obscure and retiring. And when her bewildered guest would point out that he had nothing other than good to say of the woman, in fact had nothing beyond the very ordinary to transmit, Thomas’s mother would express the view that the object of their discussion was, in her considered opinion, a marvelous person, simply delicious, and Lübeck was lucky to have such a woman among its citizens. She would say this as if it were a revelation, something

Reviews for Death in Venice

[pennyanne_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another book that has been luking on my shelves for years. I did try to read this book when I first got it but could not get past the first chapter - I found it tedious and overblown. On trying for a second time I found myself enjoying the intellectual challenge of the writing although perhaps not the the central focus of the storyline - ageing German intellectual falls in love and starts stalking a Polish adolescent he encounters during a summer stay in the increasingly pestilential city of Venice. Some heavyhanded use of repeating motifs but overall worth the effort.

[indygo88 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what the problem was with this audiobook & myself, but I just couldn't get into it. Perhaps I was distracted while listening & didn't get a full appreciation, but I honestly just couldn't wrap my head around it & when the ending came, rather abruptly, I had to rewind several times to be sure it really was the end. And still, I was left with a dazed look on my face. Having not previously read this or any translation of it, I think I may have been better off not going with the audio.

[megantron-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not gay enough.
lol jk
I can see why people make comparisons about Death In Venice to Lolita (Tadzio is basically the male version of Lolita) but the themes are so different, so idk. It's not even really about erotic obsession. Will probably reread at some point when I'm more interested in the "dignity of the author" rather than the gheyness.
Oh yeah, and this? Totally autobiographical. You know Mann totally had a boner for some teenage Polish boy.

[doryfish-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Another classic book I felt I should read... Well, I read it. And you can get the same emotional impact by reading the Wikipedia article.

[fpdc_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Portuguese translation of the german original Der Tod in Venedig. The story of a forbidden and self-destructive passion of an old writer by a boy incarnating his ideal of classical beauty. A poignant portrait of love and decadence.

[kambrogi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some brilliant classics never age. Their eternal conflicts remain relevant and their complexity is sufficient to provide a challenge with each reading. Death in Venice is one of those.In this novella, Mann investigates the battle between the mind and the body, the head and the heart, the noble and the savage. Gustav von Aschenbach, an aging writer, has dedicated his life to intellectual pursuits, living each day on the highest plane of a carefully-controlled artistic and spiritual life. But a sudden desire for the exotic takes him to Venice, where his life of dignity and restraint falls away. Caught by lust in a climate of decadence and disease, he is helpless to resist the lure of hedonism that finally spells his doom.

[pauliensijbers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful thoughts on beauty. Feeling Mann's 'sehnsucht' was a confronting experience. Embracing it is still one of the best choices I ever made.

[roxiet-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember reading "Buddenbrooks" in high school and didn’t enjoy it. However, after reading "Death in Venice", I just may give Mann’s earlier work another try. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Though there’s really not much to the storyline, I was intrigued by the main character. At times, Mann’s elongated prose, slowly inching the plot along, frustrated me. But, I couldn’t shake this pressing desire to learn of Gustav Aschenbach’s fate. Now looking back, the pages and pages of poetic “tension” only intensified my longing to read to the end. I was left remembering a Goodreads quote I saved years ago to my page: “We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.”- Sigmund Freud

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book by Thomas Mann is a novella that can give the reader a taste of the author's style. Thomas Mann writes with beauty and depth. The story is of an older artist, author who is suffering from writer's block. He decides to travel. At first he goes one place but "it isn't right" or he still can't write, so off to Venice he goes. On the way, he is annoyed by an older man trying to look young and hang out with youth. In Venice, he again feels suffocated and thinks to leave but circumstances occur and he stays where is obsession with a adolescent youth takes away any sense, logic and replaces it with passion and poor judgement. Nothing ever occurs, yet this love affair of the mind, leads to decay and death. A short but powerful story.

[danielle23_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great book with a very appropriate ending. Very beautifully written.

[missizicks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I appreciated the beauty of the writing. The descriptions at times were stunning, but the initial coolness in the writing meant I struggled to feel sympathy with the characters. Aschenbach is self centred and leaves no room for anyone else's emotions, but his descent into obsession and his surrender to passion was compelling and I ended by finding him very human. I thought Mann cleverly drew parallels between Ancient Greek society and that of early 20th century Europe, but it felt more like an intellectual exercise than a novel at times. The motifs of death, fate, obsession and trying to stir up passion in a regulated heart were interesting, but real feelings seldom broke through the cleverness, and only really succeeded towards the end. That kept me from loving the book.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one creeps up on you slowly throughout. It begins very slowly and frankly rather tediously, with the author spending a large number of words on very little. But the protagonist's obsessions, with the young boy he stalks, and with his fear of and longing for oblivion, gradually take over the narrative, and his mental decay mirrors the physical decay of Venice and the growing menace of the disease plaguing the city. Leave quite an emotional impact.

[stormrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4/20. A gorgeous, sensual, intellectually brilliant novella. The caveat is simple: the second chapter is torture. Torture. You have to trust Mann to know what he's doing, and sure enough, he does, and soon we're plunged into the vivid, sweltering world of venice, whose influence slowly overcomes Aschenbach's moralistic, rational thoughts and plunge him into a dionysion revel of passion and sensuous emotion. Watch out for the many red-haired men, and be prepared for the last chapter, when the whole novel seems to plunge into a bachanaid. Here's how it works: at first, I had to force myself to read it (coincides with rationalist part of Aschenbach's mind) with thoughts of "famous novel, famous novelist, I'm sure it gets better ARGH!" Then I had to force myself to stop (coincides with passionate overthrow of reason). A brilliant construction.

[msjoanna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was nice to hear this translation, which is different from and much easier for the modern reader the one that I read in college. I enjoyed hearing the names and places spoken by a reader on this CD version rather than stumbling over them in print. As a warning, if you aren't familiar with the story, I would save the forward for the end. Michael Cunningham has written an excellent and insightful forward, but it does discuss the plot in detail, so if the story is new to you, skip the first two tracks on the first disk, then come back and listen to them at the end. Highly recommended.

[knfmn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

a 160 page celebration of a pederast and his target. I find it interesting that Mann is revered as an author, but most people would be hard-pressed to come up with 3 books that he wrote. I found this book unimaginative and prone to rambling. Not my idea of a good book.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not my cup of tea at this time

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gustav von Aschenbach, a lonely German author, decides to take a long vacation in Venice, away from the drudgery of his normal life. In Venice he spies a young Polish boy, vacationing with his family. von Aschenbach becomes obsessed with this beautiful young boy trying to catch sight of him all over the city. Many people compare this to Lolita except von Aschenbach is a pedophile interested in young boys. Although he is definitely attracted to the boy, he never really approaches him, or crosses that line where he plots a seduction. For me, the story was just ok, but I really enjoyed the intro to this audiobook. Author Michael Cunningham who discusses the new translation of this German novella and all the nuances and little decisions involved in creating a good translation of a classic

[etxgardener · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I know this will mark me as a philistine, but here is my two sentence review of this book. There's no fool like an old fool. Thank God this novella is only 60 pages long

[oel_3-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How I wish I discovered Mann earlier

[ted_newell-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Strange desire for death, strange compulsion for beauty.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked and disliked this book. Mann has his character, Aschenbach, preach a little more than I like, preaching his thoughts about beauty and writing and control. That's what I disliked. For the first third of the book, I could barely force myself to keep reading.Then Aschenbach falls in love and begins to tail the object of his affection all over Venice. The story takes a different turn and the writing moves from a rant about virtue to a real story. Venice is beautifully depicted and Aschenbach becomes a real, brilliant, tortured human being. That's what I liked.

[terpsichoreus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A literary achievement with the psychology of Tolstoy and a Greek commitment to the story itself; and that is not the only thing about this book that is 'Greek'. A treatise on Death, Life, Sex, Desire, and Fear which is both enticing and terrifying, and for the self-same reason.Here is the face of wretched animal man, teeth bared and cloudy desperation mocking the vision. Mann's most succinct and powerful images and meanings are always reversed, for the sense that the raw and brutal emotion herein is become feral is mitigated by the fact that it is twisted back upon the self as only such a morally indistinct, labyrinthine mass may so twist.Eminently pleasing and disturbing, this battle between the barely-restrained Epicurean and the resignedly Absurdist meets the latter's comic fruition in the former's faux-tragic inaccessibility.

[dk_atkinson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

According to modern writing standards, the language can come off as contrived. I enjoyed the depth of writing and the use of imagery.

[nosajeel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A compact novella without a wasted word or image, Death in Venice is clearly the work of a master--but it is a master whose obsession with myth and "grand" themes leaves behind much of the particular, humor, quirkiness and irony that I would generally prefer to find in a book. So no particular judgment on the merits, really just a matter of not being entirely to my taste.

[wendyrey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Deeply strange story about an elderly man's admiration (love? lust? aesthetic pleasure?) for a young beautiful boy. Well written and well worth reading.

[innahlovesyou · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first, it was quite boring. After that, it became interesting with all the details about Venice, it was like I was there again. I felt how every word of his is making my heart warmer. And then there was this love about that boy that I couldn't understand. Was it father-son love, or was it some kind of wrong love, if you know what I mean. The ending was expected and disappointing.

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An oddly moving tale about an older man who uproots his routine to go on a spur of the moment vacation in Venice. While there, he develops an unexpected romantic obsession with a beautiful young boy. A hauntingly sad story of unusual beauty.

[pauntley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stars for Mann's novella are superfluous. It needs no recommendation. This new translation, by Michael Heim, does deserve the accolade of a five star rating. In his brief introduction Michael Cunninham makes the persuasive point that Heim presents a subtly new reading of the original in which Aschenbach, ageing disgracefully, achieves a perversely heroic status.

[pcb2nls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good, but also very heavy stuff. It was an intelligent, very well written novella that I enjoyed reading. I recommend it to the philosophical thinker or someone in the mood for a more serious read. :)

[strandbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a strange, creepy little novel. I can't decided if the character Aschenbach is really a pedophile or just enthralled with the youth and beauty of a teenage boy that has been lost to him for years.