Death in Venice: A New Translation by Michael Henry Heim (Unabridged)
-
-
3.5 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.
In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. "It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity."
Customer Reviews
Narrator reads rather too self-consciously
This is a good book, but I found the voice distracting. His pauses and emphases seemed off to me - but perhaps it’s because I’d read the book. I know the main character Aushenbach is pretty ostentatious but that doesn’t mean the man reading must be.
SPOILER IN FOREWORD
Do not listen to the foreword unless you want to know what the book is about and how it ends. Whoever decided to include the assessment of the new translation of Mann’s novel before the actual book should be awarded the Spoiler (idiot) of the Year award. It’s like asking “Have you seen Fight Club, the movie where it’s the same guy?”
I’m giving the book one star because my listening experience is now in vain. Spent $16 so I can lose all interest in the first five minutes before I even got to the actual book.