SOURCE: Fickert, Kurt. “Truth and Fiction in Der Tod in Venedig.” Germanic Notes 21, nos. 1-2 (1990): 25-31.

In the following essay, Fickert elucidates autobiographical aspects of Mann's Death in Venice.

Thomas Mann himself characterized Der Tod in Venedig (written 1911-1912) as a many faceted work and emphasized the fact that this multiplicity of aspects had been compressed into a crystal of rare clarity. He described the composition of the novella in this fashion: “Hier schoß im eigentlichen kristallinischen Sinn des Wortes, vieles zusammen, ein Gebilde zu zeitigen, daß im Lichte mancher Facette spielend, in vielfachen Beziehungen schwebend, den Blick dessen, der sein Werden tätig überwachte, wohl zum Träumen bringen konnte.”¹ Appropriately, the figure of speech Mann chose to depict the success of his effort to combine the many motifs of Der Tod in Venedig was taken from Goethe, for Goethe's life and writings played a considerable part...