Illness as a theme in Thoman Mann’s Death in Venice

Abstract

Thomas Mann is arguably one of the most prominent writers of the 20^th century literature. Among his works, Death in Venice is a novella in which he uses illness as a theme. Gustav von Aschenbach is the protagonist of the novella who dies of cholera in the end. This paper aims to study how Mann uses illness as a theme to philosophically and psychologically examine Aschenbach.

If we ponder upon the question of who all are the greatest figures of the 20^th century literature, Thomas Mann would be a name that would undoubtedly top the list. Thomas Mann was born in 1875 and is famous for both his fiction and critical essays. Mann’s works mainly focuses on the philosophical examination of the characters presented. One of the major recurring themes in Mann’s work is the conflict between art and life which was to be seen right from his first major work Buddenbrooks (1901). Death in Venice (1912) is the culmination of Mann's work on this theme. Mann has also explored the themes of travel, asceticism, and passion in his later works.