Death in Venice

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Death in Venice is Thomas Mann’s most famous – and infamous - novella. Published in 1912, it’s about the fall of the repressed writer Gustav von Aschenbach, when his supposedly objective appreciation of a young boy’s beauty becomes sexual obsession. It explores the link between creativity and self-destruction, and by the end Aschenbach’s humiliation is complete, dying on a deckchair in the act of ogling. Aschenbach's stalking of the boy and dreaming of pederasty can appal modern readers, even more than Mann expected. With Karolina Watroba, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Modern Languages at All Souls College, University of Oxford Erica Wickerson, a Former Research Fellow at St Johns College, University of Cambridge Sean Williams, Senior Lecturer in German and European Cultural History at the University of Sheffield Sean Williams' series of Radio 3's The Essay, Death in Trieste, can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lzd4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:04.7	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.2	There's a reading list to go with it on our website,
0:09.4	and you can get news about our programs if you follow us
0:12.0	on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:14.6	I hope you enjoyed the program.
0:16.4	Hello, Death In Venice is Thomas Mann's
0:18.5	most famous novella.
0:19.9	Published in 1912, it's about the fall of a repressed writer,
0:23.6	Gustav von Uschenbach,
0:25.0	when his objective appreciation of a young boy's beauty
0:28.3	becomes obsession.
0:30.4	It explores the link between creativity and self-destruction,
0:33.9	and by the end, Uschenbach's humiliation is complete,
0:36.6	dying on a lecture in an act of ogling.
0:39.8	A nation-bach stalking of the boy can appall modern readers,
0:43.3	even more than unexpected.
0:45.6	With me to discuss Death In Venice by Thomas Mann,
0:48.3	I'm currently in Ortroba, post-doctoral research fellow
0:51.8	in modern languages at also's College University of Oxford,
0:55.3	Erica Wickerson, a former research fellow
0:57.9	at St. John's College University of Cambridge,
	...

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