Death in Venice - A Review

Death in Venice, while being a relatively short read, set in a short amount of time and on limited geography, was a pretty dense and, at times, emotionally exhausting read.

A few prerequisites to thoroughly enjoying Death in Venice:

• A firm understanding and working knowledge of Greek mythology, which is a prevailing motif peppered on almost every page from the beginning until the end.

• Experience with archaic, out-of-date language. While legitimately impressive, it could also be a deterrent if the one who is reading does not have a particularly robust vocabulary. I stopped and looked up at least a half dozen words, so I can imagine the frustration to a layman trying to plod his way through. But, it’s not Mann’s fault and it isn’t a mark against his writing and novella. It’s almost as if he was just on the unfortunate end of history, like he was using the “Betamax” dialect of 1800’s language because a lot of his vocabulary was defined as “archaic” or “dated” or “out of use” or otherwise EOL’ed.

• Speaking of being on the unfortunate end of history, when you boil it down the book is about a 50-something man’s smoldering and sexual lust for a 14 year old boy. It takes you into the mind, and really the downward journey, of a pedophile. It’s a fascinating look at how “innocent” pederasty begins, as a germ in a discontented, repressed, and, although decorated as an artist and writer, wholly average man and leaves you guessing at just how far down the rabbit hole our protagonist would fall had outside events not interfered

All in all, it was a good book once you got adjusted to the style. He was good, not great, at imagery; he put a lot of effort in trying to get the sounds and, especially, smells off the page and for the most part succeeded. I feel like Death in Venice, with its somber, grayed tone, setting, and homosexuality was an influence on The Talented Mr. Ripley -- I wouldn't be surprised to read that. That being said, in its style, language and aspirations, while not poor, it was an austere man’s less interesting imitation of E.A. Poe.

Not that I am a literary critic and my reviews are the definitive take on the particular subject as it’s just one man’s perspective, but I like to critically think about literature as an art form and I hope that helps answer your question!