... the story's larger, mythical magnitude. To be honest, I didn't know too much about ancient mythology when I chose to write the review of Death in Venice on this subject, but the recurring references to Apollo and Dionysus and others struck me as an important mark for this novella. To most ... sure, I tried to represent the mythological figures without extending the author's credit too far. I hope this doesn't sound too much of a stretch. Death in Venice has many references to antiquity. In fact, Mann himself expressed his novel as "myth plus psychology". The story begins in the northern ...

• Word Count: 991
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

On the Discourse of Desire The progression in the discourse of desire in Thomas Mann's Death in Venice depicts the shift between the intertwining discourses evident in the novella, beginning with the Apollian discourse to the fateful pathological desire that will evidently end Aschenbach's life. Aschenbach ... writing to "work in the presence of Tadzio, to use the boy's physical frame as the model for his writing" (39). Aschenbach references of Tadzio to Narcissus, "it was the smile of Narcissus leaning over the mirroring water" (43) marks the beginning of Aschenbach's new discourse of desir...

• Word Count: 920
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate