Death in Venice

By: Thomas Mann

Narrated by: Simon Callow, Michael Cunningham

The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann—here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim

Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustave von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.

In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. “It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom,” Mann wrote. “But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist’s dignity.”

Simon Callow is terrific. Loved the translation.

This translation of the book is an improvement over the one most people have read. Simon Callow’s narration is a masterful performance. I loved it.

Death in Venice

A gorgeous reading of a great masterpiece. Couldn't be better.

One of the Great Novellas of the 20th Century; Topical Listening During the 2020 Corona Virus Pandemic

NOTE: Some plot points are discussed in my review.

Mann, for me, is a transitional writer. He has one foot still in the nineteenth century approach to the novel, and one foot too in the twentieth century; he is nearly, but not quite, a modern.

The novella Death in Venice is one of my favorites. It tells the story of an aging intellectual suddenly without warning “living dangerously”. Obsessed as he is with his own ideas and his inner dialogue as he examines these ideas, he grows increasingly infatuated with a boy he sees for the first time at a hotel during a solo vacation to Venice. He finds himself in a city that seems to be in the grips of a typhoid epidemic that quickly overwhelms the city shortly after his arrival.

A great novella, examining the perils to the body of allowing one’s obsession with one’s ideas; of living a life dominated by one’s mind alone. I’ve read this work before and remembered how much I enjoyed it, and it seemed a quite appropriate choice to listen to during the current (early 2020) Novel Corona Virus / COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ve listened to Simon Callow’s narration of the Aeneid, as well as his reading of Shakespeare’s sonnets and enjoyed his narrative skill very much. His reading of Mann’s novella here does not disappoint; it is brisk, positively full of his unique vocal character’s ability to engage and transport a listener, and I thoroughly enjoyed Callow’s reading of Death in Venice too.

Provocative Prose

This incredible novellette was written as if the words were directly extracted from Aschenbach's mind....amazing writing. The story told elegantly but with incredible power and passion.....amazing storytelling. The forward equally as fascinating....

Best Translation, Poorly Read!

First of all Michael Cunningham's introduction on the process of writing and translations is brilliant, worth the price of admission on this audio book. This is a story I have been fascinated with for many decades and tend to read every so many years, always searching for translations that get to the core of it's poetic beauty. This may be one of the best I have read/heard as most translations are often a bit stilted, missing the emotional context sacrificed for a more literal meaning. This one seems more accessible to a modern audience. Did not like Simon Callow's reading of it. Seemed like he was racing through it. Too, too fast to grasp the beautifully textured imagery of the words. I couldn't grasp or linger in it's dense poetry as he had already moved on by the time I could conjure in my minds eye. For goodness sake it's a short story, could slow it down a bit to savor and linger in it's haunting imagery.