decadent_and_depraved reviewed Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
Review of 'Death in Venice' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I like Mann's style of writing, I truly do, but I do not think anybody would call it direct. It is oblique, always seemingly hinting at something larger, something significantly symbolic, which is not a problem in and of itself, yet I do feel as if this work could have used a little more candidness. Naturally, I understand this was not Mann's vision and, therefore, Death in Venice is as it is, obviously adored by many. If we take the overall message of this work to be that, extreme repression and extreme indulgence both possess a similer potantial to be equally ruinous, I would not quite agree. I also reject the notion that this ruinous potential is something one should minimize at all cost. I mean that, and I would believe it still, rather more firmly, even if it were proven to me that this potantial for tragedy has to …
I like Mann's style of writing, I truly do, but I do not think anybody would call it direct. It is oblique, always seemingly hinting at something larger, something significantly symbolic, which is not a problem in and of itself, yet I do feel as if this work could have used a little more candidness. Naturally, I understand this was not Mann's vision and, therefore, Death in Venice is as it is, obviously adored by many. If we take the overall message of this work to be that, extreme repression and extreme indulgence both possess a similer potantial to be equally ruinous, I would not quite agree. I also reject the notion that this ruinous potential is something one should minimize at all cost. I mean that, and I would believe it still, rather more firmly, even if it were proven to me that this potantial for tragedy has to eventually turn into actuality of pain, suffering, death, and most dreadful of all, judgement!
