Inspiration for Death in Venice-The Real Tadzio 1900-1962 (Short Lives) [Paperback]

Gilbert Adair (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0571208207 | ISBN-13: 978-0571208203 | Publication Date: May 2001

Whilst visiting Venice in 1911 Thomas Mann's eye was drawn to a young sailor suited boy of almost supernatural beauty, and inspired to write "Death in Venice". This is a biography of that boy, who went on to lead a life as rich and as full of twists as any piece of fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[An] elegantly and nuanced essay ... Adair has made of it a perfect miniature." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Short Books (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571208207
• ISBN-13: 978-0571208203
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,296,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Approach to Art as Life vs. Life as Art, December 2, 2003

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Real Tadzio: Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and the Boy Who Inspired It (Paperback)

Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice" written in 1911 has proven to be one of the more enduring, widely read stories in all of 20th Century literature. Originally published by Mann in a selection of short stories, the tale is one of the clash of the Apollonian and Dionysian conflict in the guise of one Gustav von Aschenbach, dropping his wholly cerebral life, to fall in love with a young Polish lad (Tadzio, who represents earthly Dionysian beauty at the stage of puberty) in Venice, Italy when the threat of cholera threatened the life of the city. The story has captured the imagination of philosophers, readers, historians, thinkers concerned with gender studies - and musicians and filmmakers!
The story has been published in many languages, served as the subject for Luchino Visconti's hauntingly beautiful film (1971) by the same name, and resulted in Benjamin Britten's last opera (1973) also with the name "Death in Venice" in tact. Gender studies writers claim this novella to be one of the most successful stories of same sex love, and other famous writers took the lead from Mann in putting into novel form the 'unspeakable subject'. Gilbert Adair, a successful British writer ("Love and Death on Long Island" is a stunning book and was made into a fine film with the brilliant portrayal by John Hurt of the Thomas Mann-inspired character) has treated us with a significant bit of investigation and shows in well written prose and illustrated by many photographs that the story of "Death in Venice" is actually Mann's reporting on an incident that really did happen: Mann was in Venice in 1911, encountered a rich young Polish boy (one Wladyslaw Moes) while staying on the Lido, met all the same characters he later depicted, escaped the cholera epidemic that threatened Venice, felt the desire for the beautiful lad, but in Mann's case he did not die on the beach watching his desired young dream lad wandering away into the sea waves.
Adair then follows the life of the real 'Tadzio' through his wealthy years in Poland, his trials during the time between WWI and WWII, his loss of all of his wealth in the post war period including his incarceration in a POW camp, his marriage and subsequent loss of his son, his response to seeing himself depicted in Visconti's movie version of Mann's novella, and his subsequent death in 1986. This is a fine bit of history, well presented with accompanying photographs of "Tadzio", his friends, his family, and his disappearance into obscurity while his impetus for Thomas Mann's novella lives on. Adair also examines the Visconti film and the Britten opera and manages to tie a century's worth of information into a short, eminently readable book. This is a must read for everyone who has fallen in love with this famous story.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly substantial read, May 7, 2002

By 

A. Hickman (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inspiration for Death in Venice-The Real Tadzio 1900-1962 (Short Lives) (Paperback)

This is a lovely little book (barely 100 pages, with pictures) by Gilbert Adair, the author of "Love and Death on Long Island," which traces the life story of the Polish boy, Wladyslaw Moes, who served as the muse for Thomas Mann's novella, "Death in Venice." Moes' story, which follows his fortunes through two wars and his death in the 1980s, is fascinating, and along the way Adair finds time to meditate on Visconti's 1970s film of the book, which, when he saw it, first alerted Moes to the fact that he had been the inspiration for Tadzio, as well as on Visconti's own identification with Aschenbach. Adair further speculates on the novel's position as the top gay classic of all time. I especially liked Adair's observation that another Visconti masterpiece, the woefully neglected "Conversation Piece," represents an updating of the Mann story to post-World War II Italy, with Burt Lancaster in the Aschenbach/Visconti role and Helmut Berger as Tadzio/himself. Readers will note that Adair's own "Love and Death" is yet another updating of the same tale. Taken ounce for ounce, a very substantial read.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Approach to Art is Life vs. Life is Art, December 1, 2003

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Real Tadzio: Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and the Boy Who Inspired It (Paperback)

Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice" written in 1911 has proven to be one of the more enduring, widely read stories in all of 20th Century literature. Originally published by Mann in a selection of short stories, the tale is one of the clash of the Apollonian and Dionysian conflict in the guise of one Gustav von Aschenbach, dropping his wholly cerebral life, to fall in love with a young Polish lad (Tadzio, who represents earthly Dionysian beauty at the stage of puberty) in Venice, Italy when the threat of cholera threatened the life of the city. The story has captured the imagination of philosophers, readers, historians, thinkers concerned with gender studies - and musicians and filmmakers!

The story has been published in many languages, served as the subject for Luchino Visconti's hauntingly beautiful film (1971)by the same name, and resulted in Benjamin Britten's last opera (1973) also with the name "Death in Venice" in tact. Gender studies writers claim this novella to be one of the most successful stories of same sex love, and other famous writers took the lead from Mann in putting into novel form the 'unspeakable subject'. Gilbert Adair, a successful British writer ("Love and Death on Long Island" is a stunning book and was made into a fine film with the brilliant portrayal by John Hurt of the Thomas Mann-inspired character) has treated us with a significant bit of investigation and shows in well written prose and illustrated by many photographs that the story of "Death in Venice" is actually Mann's reporting on an incident that really did happen: Mann was in Venice in 1911, encountered a rich young Polish boy (one Wladyslaw Moes) while staying on the Lido, met all the same characters he later depicted, escaped the cholera epidemic that threatened Venice, felt the desire for the beautiful lad, but in Mann's case he did not die on the beach watching his desired young dream lad wandering away into the sea waves.

Adair then follows the life of the real 'Tadzio' through his wealthy years in Poland, his trials during the time between WWI and WWII, his loss of all of his wealth in the post war period icluding his incarceration in a POW camp, his marriage and subsequent loss of his son, his response to seeing himself depicted in Visconti's movie version of Mann's novella, and his subsequent death in 1986. This is a fine bit of history, well presented with accompanying photographs of "Tadzio", his friends, his family, and his disappearance into obscurity while his impetus for Thomas Mann's novella lives on. Adair also examines the Visconti film and the Britten opera and manages to tie a century's worth of information into a short, eminently readable book. This is a must read for everyone who has fallen in love with this famous story.