Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

First published:Der Tod in Venedig, 1912 (English translation, 1925)

Type of work: Novella

Type of plot: Symbolic realism

Time of plot: Early twentieth century

Locale: Italy

Principal Characters

• Gustav von Aschenbach, a middle-aged German writer
• Tadzio, a young Polish boy

The Story

Gustav von Aschenbach is a distinguished German writer whose work brings him world fame and a patina of nobility from a grateful government. His career is honorable and dignified. A man of ambitious nature, unmarried, he lives a life of personal discipline and dedication to his art. In portraying heroes who combine the forcefulness of a Frederick the Great with the selfless striving of a Saint Sebastian, he believes that he speaks for his race as well as for the deathless human spirit. However, his devotion to the ideals of duty and achievement bring him close to physical collapse.

One day, after a morning spent at his desk, he leaves his house in Munich and goes for a walk. His stroll takes him as far as a cemetery on the outskirts of the city. While he waits for a streetcar to take him back to town, he suddenly becomes aware of a man who stands watching him from the doorway of the mortuary chapel. The stranger, who has a rucksack on his back and a walking staff in his hand, is evidently a traveler. Although no word passes between watcher and watched, Aschenbach feels a sudden desire to take a trip, to leave the cold, wet German spring for the warmer climate of the Mediterranean lands. His impulse is strengthened by the fact that he encountered a problem of technique that he is unable to solve in his writing. He decides to take a holiday and leave his work for a time, hoping to find relaxation for mind and body in Italy.

He goes first to an island resort in the Adriatic but becomes bored with his surroundings before too long and books passage for Venice. On the ship, he encounters a party of lively young clerks from Pola. With them is an old man whose dyed hair and rouged cheeks make him a ridiculous but sinister caricature of youth. In his disgust, Aschenbach fails to notice that the raddled old man bears a vague resemblance to the traveler he saw at the cemetery in Munich.

Aschenbach’s destination is the Lido. At the dock in Venice, he transfers to a gondola that takes him by the water route to his Lido hotel. The gondolier speaks and acts so strangely that Aschenbach becomes disturbed. Because of his agitation, he never notices that the man looks something like the drunk old scarecrow on the ship and the silent stranger at the cemetery. After taking his passenger to the landing stage, the gondolier, without waiting for his money, hastily rows away. Other boatmen suggest that he might have been afraid of the law because he has no license.

Aschenbach stays at the Hotel des Bains. That night, shortly before dinner, his attention is drawn to a Polish family, which consists of a beautiful mother, three daughters, and a handsome boy of about fourteen. Aschenbach is unaccountably attracted to the youngster, so much so that he continues to watch the family throughout his meal. The next morning, he sees the boy playing with some companions on the beach. His name, as Aschenbach learns while watching their games, is Tadzio.

Disturbed by the appeal the boy has for him, the writer decides to return home. On his arrival at the railroad station in Venice, however, he discovers that his trunks were misdirected to Como. There is nothing for him to do but wait for his missing luggage to turn up, so he goes back to the hotel. Although he despises himself for his vacillation, he realizes that his true desire is to be near Tadzio. For Aschenbach there begins a period of happiness in watching the boy and anguish in knowing they must remain strangers. One day, he almost summons up enough courage to speak to the boy. A moment later, he becomes panic-stricken for fear that Tadzio might be alarmed by an older man’s interest. The time Aschenbach set for his holiday passes, but the writer almost forgets his home and his work. One evening, Tadzio smiles at him as they pass each other. Aschenbach trembles with pleasure.

Guests begin to leave the hotel; there are rumors that a plague is breaking out in nearby cities. While loitering one day on the Piazza, Aschenbach detects the sweetish odor of disinfectant in the air, for the authorities are beginning to take precautions against an outbreak of the plague in Venice. Aschenbach stubbornly decides to stay on despite the dangers of infection.

A band of entertainers comes to the hotel to serenade the guests. In the troupe is an impudent, disreputable-looking street singer whose antics and ballads are insulting and obscene. As he passes among the guests to collect money for the performance, Aschenbach detects on his clothing the almost overpowering smell of disinfectant, an odor suggesting the sweetly corruptive taints of lust and death. The ribald comedian also bears a strange similarity to the gondolier, the rouged old rake, and the silent traveler whose disturbing presence gave Aschenbach the idea for his holiday. Aschenbach is torn between fear and desire. The next day, he goes to a tourist agency where a young clerk tells him that people are dying of the plague in Venice. Even that confirmation of his fears fails to speed Aschenbach’s departure from the city. That night, he dreams that in a fetid jungle, surrounded by naked orgiasts, he is taking part in horrible, Priapean rites.

By that time his deterioration is almost complete. Even though he allows a barber to dye his hair and tint his cheeks, he still refuses to see the likeness between himself and the raddled old fop whose appearance disgusted him on shipboard. His behavior becomes more reckless. One afternoon, he follows the Polish family into Venice and trails them through the city streets. Hungry and thirsty after his exercise, he buys some overripe strawberries at an open stall and eats them. The odor of disinfectant is strong on the sultry breeze.

Several days later, Aschenbach goes down to the beach where Tadzio is playing with three or four other boys. They begin to fight, and one of the boys throws Tadzio to the ground and presses his face into the sand. As Aschenbach is about to interfere, the other boy releases his victim. Humiliated and hurt, Tadzio walks down to the water. He stands facing seaward for a time, as remote and isolated as a young Saint Sebastian, then he turns and looks with a somber, secret gaze at Aschenbach, who is watching from his beach chair. To the writer, it seems as though the boy is summoning him. He starts to rise but becomes so giddy that he falls back into his chair. Attendants carry him to his room. That night, the world learns that the great Gustav von Aschenbach died suddenly of the plague in Venice.

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