Posted by Scott Drummond on November 21, 1999 at 16:13:18:

To all those interested in helping a student out !!

I'm in Hamburg, Germany, right now, and am studying german at a language school - the trouble is I want to read Mann's Death in Venice, but am fighting through his bersome literary style - I don't know if the english version is easier to read for German's, but the German is comprised of sentences which have about 35 different clauses !!! My german is getting better, but it takes forever to really get the true jist of what Mann is describing. I'm primarily an English Literature student, but any level of commentary on this piece would be wonderful - anything from a simple review, to an in depth dissertation. I don't want to be spoon fed the information, that's not it at all - if anything I find it more rewarding to discover Mann's purpose alone, but some ideas as to Mann's central themes and preoccupations within this novel would be useful. Is he looking at the taboo of Homouality at the time of writing, is he trying to contrast the beauty of Tadzio with the impurity of mere lustful enfatuation, is he trying to compare Venice's beauty with Tadzio's ... I could go on, but the questions are, as always, only limited by the imagination. Any help would be gratefully appreciated, and you never know, I might be able to help with some of your Q's !!

Scott Drummond, 18, Hamburg

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• It sounds like magic?? Feegees Su. 11:14:06 11/21/100 (0)

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