Death in Venice is a novella by the German Thomas Mann. The book was published in Germany in the early part of 1912. The book’s original name was Der Tod in Venedig. In1925, Kenneth Burke translated the book into English. It is, at heart, a story of homosexual lust. Synopsis The story starts with the protagonist, a man named Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous author who was widowed at an early age. The story starts with Aschenbach passing through a cemetery. While on his stroll, he happens upon a red-haired man who impolitely stares at him. Soon after this incident, he decides to take a trip. Aschenbach chose Venice and took a suite at the Grand Hotel des Bains on Lido Island. On his way to the island, he sees an elderly man with a group of youths. The old man tries to create an illusion of youth by wearing thick makeup and dyeing his hair. Aschenbach is disgusted at the man and turns away. He then encounters another red-haired gondolier who returns him to the wharf. Aschenbach checks into the hotel and dines there for the evening. During dinner, he sees a Polish family whose daughters are so overdressed that they resemble nuns, but what caught his attention was the adolescent boy, beautiful and fair-skinned. He overhears from the conversations that the boy’s name is Tadzio. Because of the humid weather in Venice, Aschenbach’s health suffers and he decides to leave Lido. On the day of his departure, he sees Tadzio once more and regrets his decision to leave. He is overjoyed when he finds out his luggage has been misplaced He then returns to his hotel and forgets the idea of leaving. As his stay in Venice lengthened, Aschenbach’s interest in the boy heightens; he follows the boy secretly around Venice. His obsession with Tadzio grew so rapidly that he declared it as love. With his growing “love” for the boy, Aschenbach completely forgets his past self. He becomes a slave to his love for the boy and no traces of the famous aristocratic author remains. It even comes to the point that he begins feeling sexual attraction for Tadzio. Though his feelings for the boy are intense, he never touches him nor talks to the boy. Disgusted at his aging and ugly body, he visits the hotel’s barber daily until he is persuaded to paint his face and dye his hair to look younger. After the makeover, Aschenbach closely resembles the old man he saw while in the Vaporetto. By this time Aschenbach has become the degenerate he previously thought disgusting. Days pass and Aschenbach found out that the Polish family intended to leave in the afternoon. Though ill and weak, he went down to the beach and sat in his usual spot. Tadzio was unsupervised and he was with an older boy. A quarrel breaks out between the two boys and Tadzio loses. He angrily leaves his companion and wanders nearer Aschenbach. Tadzio looks out to sea and then turns to look at Aschenbach. The latter feels the urge to follow the boy but his strength fails him and he collapses back to his chair. Aschenbach is found dead a few minutes later. Book and Movie The movie version follows the storyline of the book while introducing a few scenes for dramatic effect. The work is strewn with references to Greek mythology. Indeed, mythology is the very framework of the plot. Be