Works of the Greatest German writer but troubling human being.

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	• Death in Venice: And Seven Other Stories Thomas Mann Vintage, 1989 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Works of the Greatest German writer but troubling human being.

Although his very name is synonymous with notoriously long novels such as "Buddenbrooks" and "Magic Mountain", Thomas Mann was prorific short story writer,too. he worked diligently and very punctually in quite disciplinary manner. Of course, above mentioned two book are true essense of his long literary life.However "Death in venice" and other short story that included in this book can be extremely helpful jumping point to explore this great but complext human being. There have been many authors whose works are basically nothing other than narration of their lives. But , in my humble opinion , no one could possibly surpass Thomas Mann. All his works are closely related to his reflections, experiences and his miseries( many might know what I mean),perhaps that's way he so merticulously kept his diary and put all his minute thought without self censoring .Among his numerous works, none are so confessional than "Tonio Kroger" and "Death in Venice". It is well known fact that "Tonio Kroger" was Thomas Mann's favorite work , despite there have been many severe critics , including his own son Golo Mann. Golo Mann, who was a prominent historian wrote unforgettable book on "Wallenstein", remarked on this work " the most terrible work among my father's works and also the worst short story in the 20th centry German literature". In addition to Golo Mann's invective to his own father, there have been numerous critics who , in my opinion, severely disparage "Tonio Kroger". There are not many works that bring almost bi-polarized reaction from readers. Please judge yourself. It's worth it.
In addition to "Tonio Kroger", perhaps most famous Mann's short story " Death in Venice" is also highly recommened to read. the works will cause some outrage, disgust or utter boredom. But, it is unequivocally supreme work of art that should be free from scathing attack from both dilettanttes and philistines. other short stories are also fairly interesting works . "Mario and the Magician" , that show Mann's penetrating insight of the nature of Fascism, "Tristan", the work of cruel irony and grotesque humor,and "Felix Krull" , story that represent how Mann irony targetting himself.
Overall, the book delivers memorable experience.

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Okay

The book was shipped really late and that bothered me. I needed it for class, and i got it three weeks from the day i bought it.

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Entertaining, Classic Literature

Thomas Mann wrote "Death in Venice" in 1911. The protagonist, formerly a self-controlled and respectable public figure, gives himself over to obsessively stalking a 14-year-old boy for whom he has erotic feelings. While these feelings would be unacceptable to most people in our era, it is still difficult for us to appreciate the degree of condemnation they would have attracted when this story was written. Yet, Sigmund Freud had published The Interpretation of Dreams a decade earlier, and German intellectuals like Thomas Mann were aware that censurable urges lurk beneath conscious notice within all of us. Through this story, the author was surely struggling to come to terms with his own homoerotic urges. Judging from what he wrote, these were deeply troubling to him: corruption, decay, and condemnation are the themes he presents to us. While the images conveyed through this story are repugnant and shocking, the writing is beautiful and affecting.

Several of the other stories in this volume are of similar quality, and similarly deal with troubling themes ("Mario and the Magician," "The Blood of the Walsungs"). Yet, Mann was also capable of an extended and sincerely felt appreciation of the more benign and wholesome aspects of our world ("A Man and His Dog").

These stories are worth reading and re-reading. Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, and these stories, if not Nobel prize quality, at the very least show Mann to be an engaging and entertaining writer.

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A great introduction to a litery giant

This is my first time reading Thomas Mann, save for the few excerpts that appear in college literature studies. Thomas Mann is notorious for his lengthy sentences and his never-ending novels, so I picked this as a gentle introduction to his works.
Even just flipping through the short stories will give an impression of how versatile and varied Mann's writing styles could be. Death in Venice, while being his most famous work in this book, is also one of the more difficult ones to read. This was Thomas Mann at his best - his sentences, long and tortuous, rolls through the imagination paragraphs at a time. Felix Krull, on the other hand, is short and succinct, with almost a feel of modern satire permeating through it.
The translation reads pretty clean and straightforward. While this probably probably loses a bit of feel in terms of grammar and structure of the sentences, Mann's styles and the suitability of the German language to this task means that a direct translation would have less flow and may seem cumbersome.
Overall I would say this is a nice illustration of Mann's literary prodigy, without overwhelming those who are not yet initiated into reading his full-sized novels.

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Good Introduction to Thomas Mann - Intriguing, Complex Stories

The long novels of Thomas Mann can prove challenging, not unlike those of Henry James. Fortunately, this varied collection - Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories - offers an easier way to become acquainted with Mann's intellectual, psychologically complex literature.

Thomas Mann's lengthy sentences and complex grammatical structures markedly complicate the task of translation. H. T. Lowe-Porter's translation is considered the most accessible version, although at the expense of subdividing many of Mann's sentences. (For comparison with an excellent literal version, look at Stanley Appelbaum's translation of Death in Venice, Dover Publications, 1995).

Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories was first published by Vintage Books in 1954. My edition was printed by Vintage International in 1989; it has neither an introduction nor explanatory notes.

Death in Venice (1911): While vacationing in Venice, the aging, highly respected author Gustave Ashenbach becomes mesmerized by a young boy staying at the seashore with his Polish aristocratic family. Although intellectually aware of his growing obsession, Ashenbach is unable to break away. This somber portrayal of a troubled man is a masterpiece of subtle nuances that illustrates Thomas Mann's ability to create layers of meaning.

Tonio Kroger (1903) is perhaps more biographical as it explores a writer's internal conflict between his desire to be accepted, that is to fit in to a bourgeois life, and his contradictory need to follow his artistic temperament wherever it might lead him.

Mario and the Magician (1929) is more explicitly political, depicting in the guise of an unscrupulous hypnotist a Mussolini-like character. The ending of this intriguing account is a surprise.

The setting in Disorder and Early Sorrow (1925) is Munich, less than a decade after World War I, amid rampant inflation and social upheaval. The narrator, Professor Cornelius, is saddened by the loss of tradition, exemplified by modern art, music, and dance forms so popular with his older children, now young adults. He finds refuge in his study of history. Early sorrow refers to an incident involving his five year-old daughter, Ellie.

A Man and His Dog (1918) is personal, humorous, and almost idyllic, quite different from the more serious topics addressed in the other stories in this collection.

The Blood of the Walsungs (1905) is the most disturbing story in this collection. The two key characters exhibit an aristocratic arrogance and elitism that culminates in incest. In an opera scene Mann draws a close parallel between his two protagonists and Siegmund and Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkure.

Tristan (1902) has been described as a retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde set in a sanatorium. Detlev Spinell, a tuberculosis patient staying in the Dr. Leander's medical facility, becomes infatuated with another patient, Herr Kloterjahn's wife. Spinell is a largely unsuccessful writer, one that has difficulty relating to others.

In Felix Krull (1911) the narrator is a self-serving, unscrupulous, amoral, confidence man that is somehow likeable. The story ends abruptly, leaving the reader wondering what happens next. Forty years later Thomas Mann resumed work on this story and in 1954 he published the novel The Confessions of Felix Krull, a light, often hilarious account of a man who wins the favor and love of others by enacting the roles that they desire of him.

Thomas Mann was born in Germany in 1875. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. He left Germany in 1933, living primarily in Switzerland and the United States until his death in 1955.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Eight complex stories illustrative of the author's belief that "a story must tell itself," highlighted by the high art style of the famous title novella.

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