A review by shrewdbard
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

challenging reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Reading Death in Venice, it got me thinking about how biographers of Mann thought him to be a pedophile, based on diary entries he wrote about his feelings towards his own sons. Thinking about how Vladimir Nabokov thought Mann was a hack. Thinking about how, although it escapes many people’s reading comprehension, Lolita is not a romance. Thinking about The Enchanter, the novella Nabokov wrote as a precursor to Lolita, where the pedophile narrator stops short of assaulting his victim, and is so wracked with guilt he kills himself. Thinking about, in Lolita, how Humbert Humbert meets a pedophile who targets young boys, and is disgusted by him. Doesn’t seem to realize they are ultimately the same. Thinking about the person reading the introduction, saying this was a more sympathetic translation, when it came across as quite damning to me. Thinking, thinking, thinking.

I loved the imagery where Venetian gondolas are compared to Death’s boat on the River Styx. Also, Tadzio as the sunrise itself lighting outside Aschenbach’s window every morning. 
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