The eNotated Death in Venice - MOBI

This MOBI version is compatible with the Amazon Kindle ebook reader.  For the ePub compatible version see "The eNotated Death in Venice - EPUB."

Though most eBooks are simple conversions of paper books, "The eNotated A Death in Venice” is a completely new approach that takes advantage of ebook technology by providing eNotations (electronic annotations), essays, and background information conveniently accessible through links and a comprehensive table of contents. Written by German literature scholar and Wellesley College German professor, Thomas S. Hansen, this background biographical, historical, and interpretive information makes Mann's classic more accessible and the reading experience more satisfying.

Based on the Centennial translation of the novella by Thomas S. Hansen and Abby J. Hansen published in 2012, this volume includes more than 200 eNotations and 100 Mann and Venice related images that extend Mann’s writing by providing a new layer of information behind the text the reader can access before, during, and after reading “Death in Venice.”

An introductory essay, "Thomas Mann on the Lido," describes the background, genesis, and reception of the novella as well as Mann's major themes. An extensive bibliography offers the interested reader a path to Mann and his other works and a chronology puts Mann's life and writing into the context of his times.

"When the work appeared in book form in 1913, some members of the public were disturbed by the theme of an august writer’s homoerotic fantasies. These, however, are not the core of the work, in which the literary merits of the tale overshadow such controversy. Death in Venice was generally recognized as a compelling masterpiece and adopted into the canon of modern German literature. There it has remained, generally read as a parable of Platonic aesthetics involving an intellectualized Greek vision of eros united with a Nietzschean conflict of sensibilities. Indeed, the intellectual apparatus of the story is much denser and more complex than any mere plot line or simple moral can suggest, for Mann intended a philosophical message about the necessity of balance in life and art, a message he conveys through myth­ological parallels, classical allusions, and aesthetics. Yet the centrality of Mann's complex intellectual content cannot overshadow the erotic tension for which the work is popularly known." (From the introductory essay)

In this eNotated version of “Death in Venice," Hansen shares with the reader what he has learned during three decades studying and teaching Mann and German literature, acting as a guide to the philosophic, artistic, and literary themes that permeate Mann's influential and engaging narrative.

If you are going to read "Death in Venice" for the first time - or reread him after some years - you will best enjoy and more effectively appreciate him with this unique eNotated edition.