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Death In Venice (Vintage Crucial Classics) Kindle Edition

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 418 ratings

A tale of genius in which Thomas Mann explores the artist's relation to life.

First published in 1912, Death in Venice tells how Gustave von Aschenbach, a writer utterly absorbed in his work, arrives in Venice as the result of a 'youthfully ardent thirst for distant scenes', and meets a young boy by whose beauty he becomes obsessed. His pitiful pursuit of the object of his affection and its inevitable and pathetic climax are told here with the particular skill the author has for this shorter form of fiction.


From the Publisher

Vintage Brand: Read Boldly, Think Differently.

Product description

From the Back Cover

This superb new translation of "Death in Venice" and six other stories by Thomas Mann is a tour de force, sure to establish itself as the definitive text for English-speaking readers. The seven stories in this collection represent the early part of Mann's literary career, beginning with work he produced in 1896 at the age of 21, and culminating in his most celebrated novella, "Death in Venice" (1912). Although Mann continued working until the end of his life in 1955, he despaired of ever matching the quality of his early writing. In these stories, Mann began to grapple with themes that were to recur throughout his work. In the first piece, "Little Herr Friedemann," as in "Death in Venice," a character's carefully structured way of life is suddenly and unexpectedly threatened by sexual passion. In "Gladius Dei," puritanical intellect clashes with beauty. In "Tristan," Mann presents an ironic and comical account of tension between an artist and bourgeois society. All seven of these stories are accomplished and memorable, but it is "Death in Venice" that truly forms the centerpiece of the collection. Themes that weave their way through many of the shorter stories come to a climax in this novella, out century's most haunting, magnificent tale of art and self-destruction.

About the Author

Thomas Mann was born in 1875 in Germany. He was only twenty-five when his first novel, Buddenbrooks, was published. In 1924, The Magic Mountain was published, and, five years later, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Following the rise of the Nazis to power, he left Germany for good in 1933 to live in Switzerland and then in California, where he wrote Doctor Faustus (first published in the United States in 1948). Thomas Mann died in 1955.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004C055BI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Digital; New edition (30 Nov. 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 908 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 418 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 418 ratings

About the author

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Thomas Mann
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Paul Thomas Mann (German: [paʊ̯l toːmas man]; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

Mann was a member of the Hanseatic Mann family and portrayed his family and class in his first novel, Buddenbrooks. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he moved to the United States, returning to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the best-known exponents of the so-called Exilliteratur, literature written in German by those who opposed or fled the Hitler regime.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Carl Van Vechten [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
418 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the writing quality and structure of the book. They describe the story as profound, mystical, and haunting. The events become poignant and meaningful, making it a joy and honor to read.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

6 customers mention ‘Writing quality’6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality and literary expertise of the book. They find the descriptions exquisite and the writing beautifully conceived and written. The book is described as an excellent collection of classic short stories that can be read many times.

"A most beautifully conceived and written novella - exquisite descriptions - a joy and honour to read...." Read more

"...I appreciate the literary expertise and structure but my, my, this Mann can write in long sentences such that by the time one has got to the end of..." Read more

"Mann's stories are dark, deep, profound, and beautifully crafted." Read more

"...it can be read many times" Read more

4 customers mention ‘Pacing’4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the pacing of the book. They find the story profound and mystical, weaving a tale with skill and determination. The story is described as haunting and memorable.

"...of the Venice episode was much more beautiful and was quite haunting and memorable. Vincent Gormley, Galway" Read more

"Deceptively simple and yet profound short story with a central character who stays long in the mind. Somehow his thoughts become your own...." Read more

"Mann's stories are dark, deep, profound, and beautifully crafted." Read more

"A profound and somewhat mystical tale he weaves with skill and determination. Enthralling in the message it conveys to today from the past." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Sentimentality’3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's events poignant and meaningful. They describe it as a joy and honor to read, with exquisite descriptions.

"...beautifully conceived and written novella - exquisite descriptions - a joy and honour to read...." Read more

"...Venice episode was much more beautiful and was quite haunting and memorable. Vincent Gormley, Galway" Read more

"An almost inconsequential series of events become poignant and deeply meaningful in the hands of this master writer. Read it." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2021
    A most beautifully conceived and written novella - exquisite descriptions - a joy and honour to read.

    You may already know the book - certainly the story - but do read this it if not or re- read - it’s so wonderful.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2013
    The episode in Venice, towards the latter stages of the book, I found engrossing, however, much of this work did not appeal greatly to me and was far too narcissistic for my liking.
    The film of the work, concentrating of the Venice episode was much more beautiful and was quite haunting and memorable.

    Vincent Gormley, Galway
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 June 2019
    I thought I should read this book as it is on several "best books" lists, and having watched the film several decades ago. I appreciate the literary expertise and structure but my, my, this Mann can write in long sentences such that by the time one has got to the end of a very complex sentence with a multitude of sub-clauses, one has forgotten how the sentence started and its main point; meaning that in several places, amongst a whole load of abstract descriptive language I had to re-read the whole sentence to try to discover what on earth he was talking about, thereby ruining the rythym of reading and the enjoyment of the book in general. (Geddit?)
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 June 2023
    I'd be happy to be stuck in a lift with Thomas Mann but not in Venice
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 August 2015
    Deceptively simple and yet profound short story with a central character who stays long in the mind. Somehow his thoughts become your own. Only read this translation if you're on a kindle. I abandoned the other one.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2019
    Mann's stories are dark, deep, profound, and beautifully crafted.
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2017
    Not quite what I expected. Very dated of course. Not really as enjoyable as we were having a short holiday there and expected it to be a bit more atmospheric.
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2015
    If you want to read Death In Venice in English, then go for this, the David Luke translation. Not only is he a superb translator (cf. his translation of Goethe's Faust Parts I & II, considered masterpieces in their own right), but he hasn't bowdlerized it, which is the egregious failing of the other major translation available.
    15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • P. Salus
    5.0 out of 5 stars Superb translations
    Reviewed in Canada on 14 February 2024
    There's no question as to the high quality of the stories in this volume. But the late David Luke was a superb translator. His Goethe and his Kleist are outstanding, but the renditions of Mann's novellas put the prior work of Lowe-Porter to shame. Luke's "Death in Venice" and "Tristan" are notable. But this is a brilliant volume ... for the author and for his translator.
  • Saikat Ghosh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent.
    Reviewed in India on 13 August 2018
    Very good collection of stories. Love to have this.
  • Chaxelle
    5.0 out of 5 stars True literature
    Reviewed in the United States on 28 October 2013
    I read modern novels, etc. but always end up with a feeling that something is missing. That something is the stuff of true literature. Literature shows a love of language and the ability tp paint a scene so that you feel you are there; it displays an ability to describe a character so that you feel you actually know him; it can take a simple plot and make it enthralling and it can leave you with the feeling that you want to read it again. But if you want to read literature today you must turn to the past. The in a hurry modern reader will not allow our authors to write literature.

    Far be it for me to write a review of Thomas Mann. These short stories are literature. That is critique enough.
  • Aran Joseph Canes
    4.0 out of 5 stars Europe Before the Catastrophe of 1914
    Reviewed in the United States on 5 December 2020
    There’s a certain art, or less flatteringly, a formula to Thomas Mann’s short stories. Dialogue is minimal while there is attention paid to every minute detail of the setting. The protagonists are well drawn and emerge as full personalities but rarely undergo growth or change.

    This makes them ideal if you want to travel back to Germany before the First World War. A real sense of the people and culture is strewn throughout Mann’s short stories.

    They may not all be classics but they do make for good reading. If you want an extended glimpse at Europe before the catastrophic shattering of a world that was 1914, I strongly recommend reading Mann.
  • insomniac
    3.0 out of 5 stars Charged more.
    Reviewed in India on 19 November 2018
    Great book. But they charged me 282 although the price is printed as 250.

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