I really did not know whose death the title referred to (my money was on the boy, who I imagined from the repeated descriptions of him was dying from some illness, and that his family took him to Venice to enjoy his last days), so this added some suspense for me. Only then can the viewer begin to understand how the author (Aschenbach) of his own work, Der Elender, could himself spiral downwards - as does the city Venice in its veiled attempt to hide the ravages of the plague infested city - into an "Elender" (sufferer, one in misery) himself , dying of plague, suffering unrequited love and engulfed in physical and mental deterioration. FIRST PRINTING IN EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of arguably Thomas Mann’s most celebrated work. The language was evocative and haunting, the scene set so vividly that I could almost imagine being there in the 19th century (of course, with a city like Venice that changes little and that we approached by water, conjuring up these images is easy to do). During this period, a third red-haired and disreputable-looking man crosses Aschenbach's path; this one belongs to a troupe of street singers who entertain at the hotel one night.

In 2023 Luk De Bruyker transformed the book into a stage play titled Dood in Venetië in Ghent, Belgium, with Koen Crucke in the lead role. Der Protagonist dieser anno 1913 erschienenen Novelle ist die Figur des überfünfzigjährigen Dichters Gustav von Aschenbach, der als Künstler anerkannt und gar mit einem 'von' im Namen geadelt worden ist.Und dies beweist, dass der vornehm kultivierte, sinnlich suchende Dichter einem Irrtume aufsitzt: er nicht liebt, sondern begehrt und wertschätzt.

A few days later, Aschenbach goes to the lobby in his hotel, feeling ill and weak, and discovers that the Polish family plans to leave after lunch. While staying at the Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido, the author was captivated by the beauty of a 10-year-old Polish boy, Władysław (Władzio) Moes, and then used him as the model for the protagonist Tadzio.After being repeatedly assured that the sirocco is the only health risk, he finds a British travel agent who reluctantly admits that there is a serious cholera epidemic in Venice.

The main character is Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous Silesian author in his early 50s who recently has been ennobled in honor of his artistic achievement (thus acquiring the aristocratic " von" in his name). Diaghilev often stayed at the same hotel as Aschenbach, the Grand Hotel des Bains, and took his young male lovers there.The way he could refer to a boy with whom he exchanged not a word his "lover" was weird at many levels. Mann of course was a fan of Sigmund Freud who was all the rage among avant-garde intellectuals at the time this book was written, so perhaps this inspired him to create a story based on forbidden sexual urges.