Death in Venice Is a Novella by German Author Thomas Mann

This novel follows the ending days of Gustave von Aschenbach, a revered and famous writer of his time. One spring day, he finds himself struggling to continue his writing and decides to take a stroll. During his stroll he sees a church and by happenstance, he spots a strange man standing mysteriously in a portico above two stone beasts. When the man catches Aschenbach’s gaze, the writer, intimidated, diverts his attention and moves on. He suddenly thinks he should travel somewhere, though he is conflicted by his sense of obligation to his work to keep writing. He nonetheless decides to depart, and though he doesn’t initially start out to travel to Venice, he feels drawn to the city. He travels by ship where he sees an old man hanging around young people, which Aschenbach finds repugnant.

After reaching Venice, Aschenbach boards a gondola to get over to another boat at the pier, to be transported to his hotel on Lido. Strangely, Aschenbach remarks how the gondola looks like a black coffin, yet finds comfort in it, so much so that he dozes off before he realizes the gondolier was taking him away from the pier. Instead, the gondolier, ignoring Aschenbach’s requests to turn around, takes him to the hotel instead of the pier. When he asks how much the trip will cost, the gondolier eerily replies, “The signore will pay.” Somehow Achenbach submits to this strange situation and just accepts the ride. Upon arrival at Lido, the gondolier disappears (allegedly because he’d been operating business illegally), and Aschenbach heads to his hotel.

Later in the lobby he sees a Polish family of a mother, her governess, three little girls, and a strikingly attractive adolescent boy. A long story short, Aschenbach becomes infatuated with the boy, “Tadzio”, over the summer, though they never speak. Aschenbach knows his feelings are perverse yet takes strange pleasure in knowing and acknowledging his perversion. He tries to leave, but after a series of luggage delays, he ends up back at the hotel, secretly happy to see Tadzio some more. It is unclear if Tadzio reciprocated Aschenbach’s interest or if he was just friendly and naïve, sometimes smiling or gesturing toward him.

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Achenbach is no longer stressed about writing but rather inspired, and the words come freely. Then when news of a plague comes, Aschenbach decidedly neglects to warn Tadzio’s mother, knowingly risking his life and Tadzio’s by staying in Venice where there were already warnings of contaminated food. Aschenbach dreams of an erotic ritual (in which he partakes), and when he wakes, he feels anew and unconcerned with his wrongdoings. He refreshes his appearance with a haircut and some makeup and continues following Tadzio until the day his family is to depart the hotel. Aschenbach sits from afar watching Tadzio on the beach when he finally dies, succumbing to the plague.

The story is riddled with signs of Death, from the gondolier to the old man on the ship hanging around young people to an unscrupulous lead musician who performed at the hotel. It can be interpreted that eventually Aschenbach, himself, turned into a vision of death when he was dolled up and stalking Tadzio, becoming exactly what he despised of the old man on the ship. It is easy to see Mann’s fascination with Nietzsche’s theories in this story. Aschenbach is both disgusted by his perversion and also pleased that it makes him unlike a normal person, and therefore able to be creative, much like the tradeoff between the Dionysian (lust) and Apollonian (purity).

Aschenbach is a true artist—he couldn’t be a normal, well-adjusted person and also a true artist. Aschenbach relished the torture that came with being an artist. Interestingly, Aschenbach’s early thoughts of Tadzio were about his objective beauty, almost like someone remarking on the good looks of a model. But those thoughts gave way to his real emotions for Tadzio. He tried to mask the lustfulness (Dionysian) with his impartial appreciation of Tadzio’s beauty (Apollonian) for as long as he could. As the story went on, Mann’s writing changed and Aschenbach’s enthusiasm came through. Once he decided to not warn Tadzio’s mother about the plague, Aschenbach knew he had succumbed to his inappropriateness and stopped fighting it.

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