E-Book Overview
Death in Venice, by Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann, is one of the most popular and widely taught works of German literature. It is also a complex work of art that challenges its readers. This reference is a convenient guide to the novella. In addition to providing a plot summary, the volume helps students and general readers discover the literary and intellectual qualities of Mann's famous story.The guide alsos surveys Mann's life and works, compares Death in Venice to Mann's other fiction, as well as to works by other writers, summarizes the events Mann relates, and discusses the genesis, editions, and English translations of his novella. Mann's literary and non-literary influences are considered, along with his narrative style, and the historical, cultural, and sociological factors surrounding Death in Venice. The guide also explains how the issues Mann treated remain current today, and reviews the critical and scholarly reception of his text.
E-Book Content
Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 1 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM Recent Titles in Greenwood Guides to Literature James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Reference Guide Bernard McKenna John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath: A Reference Guide Barbara A. Heavilin Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary: A Reference Guide Laurence M. Porter and Eugene F. Gray Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms: A Reference Guide Linda Wagner-Martin The Poems of Edward Taylor: A Reference Guide Rosemary Fithian Guruswamy FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 2 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice A Reference Guide ELLIS SHOOKMAN Greenwood Guides to Literature GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 3 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shookman, Ellis. Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice: a reference guide / Ellis Shookman. p. cm. — (Greenwood guides to literature) ISBN 0–313–31159–5 (alk. paper) 1. Mann, Thomas, 1875–1955. Tod in Venedig. 2. Mann, Thomas, 1875–1955—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series. PT2625.A44Z7955 2004 833′.912—dc22 2003056800 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2004 by Ellis Shookman All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003056800 ISBN: 0–313–31159–5 ISSN: 1543–2262 First published in 2004 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 4 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments 1 Introduction xi 1 2 Content 3 Texts 4 Contexts 5 Ideas 6 Narrative Art 7 Reception 8 Bibliographical Essay Index FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 17 41 65 87 105 131 141 151 5 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM FM_Pgs_i-xii.pmd 6 2/20/2004, 8:26 AM Preface This book is meant to introduce students and general readers alike to one of the most beautiful and powerful works of fiction ever written: Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (1912). It is also intended to help them go beyond the superficial level of Mann’s plot and discover the literary and intellectual qualities that make his famous story so rich and so rewarding. These qualities are stylistic, cultural, histor