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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Fantastic vocabulary, lush descriptions and moral ambiguity. What more does one need to say about a well-known classic?
slow-paced
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A highly captivating novella! It follows Gustave von Aschenbach, a German writer, who travels to Venice for his health only to fall into an obsessive passion for a young, beautiful boy. The writing and descriptions were stunning, and I must admit, as someone who has a strange fascination with Italy, I really enjoyed the experience despite the obvious and purposefully questionable themes (pedophilia, lowkey stalking etc). But it also deals with beauty, obsession, repression, art and youth, all of which I find really interesting coming from a story written in the early 1900s. Was a little caught off guard when an illness suddenly started spreading though, reading this in our lovely 2021...
Primer de tot, la traducció al català de Joan Fontcuberta és meravellosa…
En segon lloc, no havia llegit res de Thomas Mann i he de confesar que no sabia què esperar-me… però és una obra que no m’ha deixat indiferent.
Una lloança a la bellesa i també una advertència sobre la follia de l’enamorament envers la bellesa sensible… La bellesa envoltada de mort, la mort que enalteix la bellesa, la bellesa i la mort portades a extrems per la follia.
En segon lloc, no havia llegit res de Thomas Mann i he de confesar que no sabia què esperar-me… però és una obra que no m’ha deixat indiferent.
Una lloança a la bellesa i també una advertència sobre la follia de l’enamorament envers la bellesa sensible… La bellesa envoltada de mort, la mort que enalteix la bellesa, la bellesa i la mort portades a extrems per la follia.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Completely fine. Fodder for a comparative lit class. Hard to get too excited about Mann's prose when it's in service of pederasty but whatever.
Beautifully written novella, but the plot and driving actions of the protagonist could be classified as problematic. Which he does point out. I would rate it as a 3.5 because the writing style was beautiful once you got into the book.