death in venice
DEATH IN VENICE
Thomas Mann
Context
One of the most important figures of early 20th-century literature, Thomas Mann (1875-1955) is famous both for his fiction and for his critical essays. Mann was born in 1875 in Lubeck, Germany, to a distinguished merchant family that had a literary lineage, as well; Mann's older brother, Heinrich, also became a famous novelist and playwright. Mann took a keen interest in the German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, and their theories deeply influenced his writing.
Mann's fiction is characterized by subtle philosophical examination of the ideas and characters presented, undertaken in a detached, often ironic narrative voice; his stories often end tragically. The theme of the conflict between art and life appears throughout Mann's work, including his first major novel, Buddenbrooks(1901), and his short story Tonio
Kröger (1903). Death in Venice (1912) is the culmination of Mann's work on this theme. His later works take on social, political, biblical, and even legendary themes, and they include The Magic Mountain (1924), The Early
Sorrow (1925), Mario and the Magician (1930), a series of four novels entitled Joseph and His Brothers (193444), Doctor Faustus (1947), and The Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1954).
Death in Venice is not only representative of some of the issues treated in Mann's personal body of work; it also reflects many of the most vital ideas discussed in literature during the time of its composition. At the turn of the century, many European writers expressed a biting awareness of cultural and personal decadence, and social and moral decline was a central theme to such novels as Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest (1895), Joris Karl
Huysmans's Against the Grain (1884), and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). Literature of the era also focused to a large extent on issues of homoeroticism: like Death in Venice,Dorian Gray uses a fictional character
Thomas Mann
Context
One of the most important figures of early 20th-century literature, Thomas Mann (1875-1955) is famous both for his fiction and for his critical essays. Mann was born in 1875 in Lubeck, Germany, to a distinguished merchant family that had a literary lineage, as well; Mann's older brother, Heinrich, also became a famous novelist and playwright. Mann took a keen interest in the German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, and their theories deeply influenced his writing.
Mann's fiction is characterized by subtle philosophical examination of the ideas and characters presented, undertaken in a detached, often ironic narrative voice; his stories often end tragically. The theme of the conflict between art and life appears throughout Mann's work, including his first major novel, Buddenbrooks(1901), and his short story Tonio
Kröger (1903). Death in Venice (1912) is the culmination of Mann's work on this theme. His later works take on social, political, biblical, and even legendary themes, and they include The Magic Mountain (1924), The Early
Sorrow (1925), Mario and the Magician (1930), a series of four novels entitled Joseph and His Brothers (193444), Doctor Faustus (1947), and The Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1954).
Death in Venice is not only representative of some of the issues treated in Mann's personal body of work; it also reflects many of the most vital ideas discussed in literature during the time of its composition. At the turn of the century, many European writers expressed a biting awareness of cultural and personal decadence, and social and moral decline was a central theme to such novels as Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest (1895), Joris Karl
Huysmans's Against the Grain (1884), and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). Literature of the era also focused to a large extent on issues of homoeroticism: like Death in Venice,Dorian Gray uses a fictional character