BOOKS: Death in Venice

Why read "Death in Venice"?__a small novella about a middle-aged man's obsession with a teenage boy. Well__the appeal, the meaning and the impact of Thomas Mann's mini-masterpiece reaches beyond its somewhat scandalous storyline. It's true that many readers may come to it with a somewhat voyeuristic fascination with the plight of Gustav von Aschenbach, the story's main character and his obsession with the boy Tadzio. And Mann does paint early 20th century Venice as a cesspool of decadence and disease. It also has been confirmed that Mann really did stay at the famous Hotel de Bain the setting of the story and he really was obsessed with a boy named Wadlyslaw Moes who was also staying at the hotel. Interestingly, Moes in recent years been found and Mann scholar Gilbert Adair has written a biography of Moe's life, "The Real Tadzio". Such is the fascination this story has engendered. So what was really going on at the famous Hotel de Bain? What was Mann trying to say in this quasi-scandalous, semi-biographical story? Mann's stories are usually a labyrinth of interlocking allusions and symbols and "Death in Venice is no exception. There have been many interpretations about the book ranging from a work only about passion to one that is merely an allegorical display of artistic frustration. Mann has been said to have been fighting a war in his mind between German Apollonian discipline and Italian Dionysian hedonism. The theory of an anguished "Freudian Complex" can been defended. Mann did question his sexuality as can be demonstrated by his posthumously published diaries. A recent English translation of "Death in Venice" by Michael Heim's brings English readers closer to what Mann was trying to convey in German. A story, like "Death in Venice" can have more than one interpretation as Mann was an author that often layered his works with different meanings. The psychological and artistic meanings are there for those who want to draw them, that's the fun of reading this story__trying to figure it out. And also maybe it has all been over thought as critics do need things to write about. But the obvious should not be dismissed__"Death in Venice" on the face of it is clearly a story of the deadly obsession, whether it be obsession in love or any other matter. Aschenbach became obsessed beyond all reason and it killed him.