English 202 in Italy Text x: [Official course title: English 280-2] , Death in World Literature I Dr. Gavin Richardson

EDITION: Any. Recommended: Puchner, Martin, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Package 2: Vols. D, E, F / 1650 to the 20th Century. Supplied at the course website. READING JOURNAL: In a separate document, write 3-5 thoughtful sentences in response to each of these reading journal prompts: 1. argued that the repressed parts of the self will have a way of reasserting themselves, either in healthy or unhealthy ways. (Repression is “the psychological attempt made by an individual to repel one’s own desires and impulses toward pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one’s consciousness.”) Mann’s novella tells the story of one such repressed man, Gustave von Aschenbach. After reading the opening pages of this work, how does Mann depict von Aschenbach as a repressed subject?

2. Read the passage where von Aschenbach arrives in Venice. Venice, of course, is a real, northern Italian city. But in von Aschenbach’s mind, Venice seems to be so much more. How does von Aschenbach conceive of Venice? Why might it be just the vacation spot he (thinks he) needs?

3. The central portions of this novella are dominated by Gustav von Aschenbach’s obsessive musings on the young boy Tadzio. Gustav von Aschenbach routinely describes the boy as if he were a work of art. (Note the conflation of the language of art and erotics in this chapter.) Describe one or two passages in which von Aschenbach uses the language of art to describe the boy. Is the boy a real human passion for Gustav von Aschenbach, or an object to be acquired, like a painting in a gallery?

4. As von Aschenbach embarked on a ship taking him to Venice, he saw an old man wearing makeup and dyed hair. Toward the end of the novella, von Aschenbach adopts these very same cosmetic measures. Compare and contrast these two passages. Why does Mann evoke these parallel scenes?

5. At the end of this narrative, Mann seems to be drawing a parallel between disease () and desire. What parallels can you discern in the novella?

QUIZ STUDY SHEET: You will have a 10-question matching quiz based on the information found on the study sheet below. Thomas Mann,

Critical Terms & Concepts

Critical date: 1912; publication of Death in Venice

The subject matter of this novella at first seems pretty reprehensible: the inappropriate, erotic interest of the adult protagonist, Gustav von Aschenbach, in the young Polish boy Tadzio. However, Thomas Mann generally keeps this narrative pretty chaste, rendering the novella more about Gustav von Aschenbach’s psychology than about the manifestation of desire in the physical world. However, this desire is explored against the backdrop of the very physical Venice—arguably the most beautiful city in the world. Thus, beauty and its dangers become important thematic elements of this novella.

SOME CRITICAL CONCEPTS:

Psychological Realism: “The sense that characters in fictional narratives have realistic ‘interiority’ or complex emotional and intellectual depth, including perhaps subconscious urges and fears they are not aware of.” Thomas Mann was considered a master of this genre. St. Sebastian St. Sebastian: According to Church tradition, Sebastian was a third-century Roman who was martyred when the Emperor Diocletian found out that he was a Christian. The most common account of his martyrdom was that he was tied to a post and shot with arrows. This scene was to become a favorite subject of medieval and Renaissance painters, who yoked great violence with great beauty. Sebastian’s hagiographical “attribute” in medieval art was the arrow.

Gondola: The iconic water taxi of Venice, propelled by gondoliers who row or pole the small boat through Venetian waters. Lido: A Venetian beach area slightly to the southeast of the Grand Canal. Gustav von Aschenbach’s hotel is on the Lido. Charon: The boatman in classical mythology that ferried dead souls into the underworld. Mann likely modeled the Venetian gondolier who takes Gustav von Aschenbach to his hotel on this classical figure. (Look for ominous references in these scenes.) Boy with Thorn, also called the Spinario: This is a famous Greco-Roman sculpture of a boy pulling a thorn from his foot. Gustav von Aschenbach compares Tadzio to the boy in the sculpture. Dionysius: Greek god of wine and all of the wildness associated with it. The cult of Dionysius was thought to have originated in the East (e.g., India) and moved westward to ancient Greece and Rome.

“Apollonian vs. Dionysian”: Nietzsche’s designations of two different Greek art forms and artistic tendencies, reflecting two fundamental human and natural impulses. He invoked the names of the gods and to identify and distinguish them in his discussion of the origin of the tragic art and culture of the Greeks (which he traced to their confluence), associating Apollo with order, lawfulness, perfected form, clarity, precision, self-control, and individuation, and Dionysus with change, creation, and destruction, movement, rhythm, ecstasy, and oneness.” -- Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Gustav von Aschenbach seems poised between Apollonian and Dionysian impulses, with Venice representing much that is Dionysian. Cholera: “An infection of the intestines …The classic symptom is [diarrhea] so severe that it leads within hours to severe dehydration…. It is spread mostly by water and food that has been contaminated with human feces containing the bacteria. Insufficiently cooked seafood is a common source.” The cholera epidemic of 1910 began in India and moved westward into Europe. Mann aligns the movement of cholera with the cult of Dionysus that also swept from East to West in the ancient world.

Dialogues of Plato: The Greek philosopher Plato preserved the teachings of his mentor, Socrates, in these reconstructed/reimagined dialogues between Socrates and various speakers, such as . Sometimes Gustav von Aschenbach pictures himself taking part in such dialogues when some event triggers his intellectual imagination.