Der Tod in Venedig

The protagonist of this novella, an aging novelist with writers-block - a stand-in for Mann himself - travels to Venice and falls in love with a golden-haired god-like 14-year old boy. What starts as shy adoration spirals into an obsession. And even though he stays at a distance, it signifies as the character's loss of dignity and leads to his succumbing to the cholera epidemic plaguing Venice. Apparently Mann called this a “strange moral self-chastisement through a book”. Which makes so much sense when one reads up on Mann's own feelings towards younger boys. This is written in partially incredibly hard to follow German. I started with an audio-book but had to switch to the written word, as the half-page long sentences often demanded rereading. A dislike of the main character and the heavy symbolism made this drag a bit, despite it being a short novella. And despite that all, I am still glad I read it. But I definitely remember enjoying [b:Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family 80890 Buddenbrooks The Decline of a Family Thomas Mann https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1337128414s/80890.jpg 3458174] a bunch more.