Death in Venice chapter one

Death in Venice

Summary

Set in Munich in the early 1900’s
We are introduced to Gustav Aschenbach
Description of the strange looking man
Decides he wants to travel to foreign lands

Character

Within the first few lines of the novel we are introduced to what appears to be one of the only characters in the first part of this novella. We learn that he is a middle-aged writer and get the impression that Gustav is a rather distinguished intellectual, whose work seems to be an important part of his life

Themes & Motifs

The strange looking man
Death
Beauty/unattractiveness

Personal response

On the whole I think that apart from descriptions of the surroundings and of the strange looking man the first part doesn’t seem to offer very much in the way of a storyline. I would almost go as far to say that parts of this first chapter seem to be completely pointless. However one part which was particularly memorable to me was the description of the ‘tropical swampland’, this was especially interesting because of the way in which Mann describes the jungle. I thought that the description of the cloud-swollen sky was rather effective because he described it as being ‘moist and lush’ and yet ‘monstrous’. The entirety of the description conjures images of beauty flourishing from unattractiveness- ‘from rank jungles of fern, from among thick fleshy plants in exuberant flower’. This also could link with the theme of death. The exuberant flowering plant is a symbol of life whereas the rank jungle of ferns is death- a contrast between the two. The reason I chose death as a theme is because of the gravestones Aschenbach describes. Overall this chapter has left me in two minds because although I enjoyed the descriptions of the ‘tropical swampland’ and the oddity of the strange man, I am not sure as to whether I like the writing style of Mann.