Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
Death in Venice: Introduction
A concise biography of Thomas Mann plus historical and literary context for Death in Venice.
Death in Venice: Plot Summary
A quick-reference summary: Death in Venice on a single page.
Death in Venice: Detailed Summary & Analysis
In-depth summary and analysis of every chapter of Death in Venice. Visual theme-tracking, too.
Death in Venice: Themes
Explanations, analysis, and visualizations of Death in Venice's themes.
Death in Venice: Quotes
Death in Venice's important quotes, sortable by theme, character, or chapter.
Death in Venice: Characters
Description, analysis, and timelines for Death in Venice's characters.
Death in Venice: Symbols
Explanations of Death in Venice's symbols, and tracking of where they appear.
Death in Venice: Theme Wheel
An interactive data visualization of Death in Venice's plot and themes.
Brief Biography of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1875. His father was a senator and merchant, and his mother was a Brazilian of German ancestry who had emigrated to Germany at a young age. Mann’s father died when he was only 16, and shortly after he moved with his mother to Munich, where lived for much of his life. He disliked formal education and school, but attended university and studied to become a journalist. He wrote a collection of short stories, but achieved significant notoriety for his celebrated novel Buddenbrooks, published in 1901. In 1905, he married Katia Pringsheim and eventually had six children with her, though since his death it has become apparent that he may have been homosexual. Mann continued to write stories and published Death in Venice in 1912. He began writing The Magic Mountain (probably his best known novel after Buddenbrooks) shortly after, but was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. After the war, Mann’s fame spread internationally, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. He continued to live in Germany until the Nazis came to power, and left in 1933 for Switzerland. He became an American citizen and lived in the U.S. for some time before returning to Europe after the war. He died in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1955, widely recognized as one of the premier writers of the 20th century.
Get the entire Death in Venice LitChart as a printable PDF.

Historical Context of Death in Venice
In 1911, Thomas Mann himself went on a vacation to Venice with his wife, where he became fascinated by a sickly young Polish boy. Death in Venice was partially inspired by this experience, and the famous writer Aschenbach can be seen as a version of Mann himself, who had achieved notoriety in his literary career by the time he wrote Death in Venice.
Other Books Related to Death in Venice
Mann often alludes to classical Greek mythology, as Aschenbach compares Tadzio to various attractive male mythical figures like Narcissus and Hyacinthus. Additionally, Death in Venice is heavily influenced by Plato’s Phaedrus, a philosophical dialogue in which Socrates teaches Phaedrus about beauty and desire. Not only does the novella take up the same themes as this work, but Aschenbach also deliriously imagines himself as Socrates and Tadzio as Phaedrus.
Key Facts about Death in Venice
- Full Title: Death in Venice (Der Tod in Venedig, in German)
- When Written: 1911
- Where Written: Munich, Germany
- When Published: 1912
- Literary Period: Modernism
- Genre: Novella
- Setting: Munich, Germany and Venice, Italy.
- Climax: Dressed in new clothes and wearing makeup in an attempt to appear younger, Aschenbach follows Tadzio through Venice and then becomes delirious in the heat in a city square. He talks as if he is Socrates talking to the young Phaedrus, in Plato’s Phaedrus, and asks whether beauty is the path to virtue or sin.
- Antagonist: Aschenbach can be seen as his own antagonist. He struggles against his own repressed desires and, as he chooses to stay in Venice and keep pursuing Tadzio, he leads himself to his own downfall.
Extra Credit for Death in Venice
Deaths in Venice. Mann’s novella has been proven popular both with readers and with other writers eager to create their own versions of the story. It has been adapted into both a film and a ballet, and Benjamin Britten created a celebrated opera version of the story in 1973.