Ms. Hen reviews Death in Venice

Death in Venice

Thomas Mann

Dover Publications

1912, 1995

Translated from the German by Stanley Appelbaum

Ms. Hen decided to read this because one of her rooster friends recommended it since the situation of the epidemic is similar to the one we are living in today. The book is very short, though it is dense, but it pulls the reader in. Ms. Hen had no trouble getting into this novella, and she read it quickly.

This book is about an aging writer, Gustav Aschenbach, who lives in Germany, but vacations in Venice occasionally. He goes to Venice because his summer residence is not prepared yet, and he spends time at a hotel near the beach and the city. He sees a teenage boy in the hotel, and becomes obsessed with his beauty. The situation is homoerotic, but the character does not attempt to do anything about his fixation. He watches the boy on the beach, and in the hotel while he is having meals with his family. Aschenbach observes the boy interacting with other boys on the beach, and is fascinated by the way he carries himself in the world.

A cholera epidemic hits Venice, but it is not in the Italian press. The German papers have printed articles about it, so the Germans leave the city.  Aschenbach learns the truth from an English shopkeeper that the cholera is deadly and a lot of people will die. He tells Aschenbach that the breath goes out of the victim's bodies and they turn black and perish. The Italian government doesn’t want the people to know because they don’t want to scare anyone. Parts of the city are deserted as Aschenbach wanders through the streets, and he fears for his life, but he does not want to leave Venice, because he does not want to lose sight of the boy.

This novella reminded Ms. Hen of other books she has read. The obvious relative is LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, about a couple that does not get together until the end of their lives during a cholera outbreak in South America. The feeling of obsession portrayed in the book also reminded her of LOLITA and THE COLLECTOR by John Fowles. DEATH IN VENICE displays a different type of fixation than the two previous novels, since Aschenbach’s attentions are innocent, and he does not act upon them.

There is one mention of a chicken, or a reference to a chicken, which Ms. Hen admires. Aschenbach is talking to himself, thinking of the boy, “ ‘Dumbfounded,’ he thought, ‘as dumbfounded as a fighting cock who drops his wings in fear during the fight. Truly, it’s the god who, when we view something lovely, quenches our courage in this way and humbles our proud mind so drastically.’ “ Ms. Hen realizes that this is not really the mention of a chicken, but she believes the cock that is referred to is put there for aesthetic purposes and decoration is speech, which Ms. Hen is partial to, especially when chickens are involved.

Ms. Hen liked this little book. She breezed through it one day, and it was a good distraction from the troubles of the world, though it relates to our problems today. She enjoyed the neurotic crazy obsession in this book, a feeling that doesn’t make any sense, but exists anyway. Some things don’t make sense, but we need to create order out of the randomness and sit and breathe the air to make sure it’s still there.