Book Name : Death In Venice And Other Stories
Author : Thomas Mann
What is it about : Seven short stories (I actually only read five of them) including the celebrated Death In Venice, have been included in this Everyman's Library series. A masterful 20-page Introduction by Daniel Johnson should ring the bell of what would be installed - a literature giant at full force, recounting or perhaps embellishing the themes, philosophies and episodes of his life. Taking the titled story for instance, a renowned author going through should one say, a middle-age crisis, infatuated by a Polish boy as he was on vacation on the shores of Venice. Subsequently, he spied on, stalked upon, and killed himself in his own tangled web of love; unknowingly perhaps, willingly maybe, through the fatal contagion of the virus from the lowland swamps.
Some thoughts after having read the book : A Wordsmith, A Great Communicator (through sentences), A Literature Giant, A Profound Thinker - descriptions which came to mind as I read through these stories. The Author had, the power of choosing the right words, the patience to fully form the setting, the depth of human knowledge to create the characters (including a dog). Take for example, the story " A Man And His Dog", I felt as if I knew this dog when it was still a puppy, I felt I even owned the dog and had taken it on numerous walkies and the experience of anxiety and helplessness when it coughed blood.
Would I recommend this book to you : An excellent way to enlarge your vocabulary as well as great lessons in learning how to apply the appropriate wordings to form the scenarios. However, I felt that the stories in the book would not break new grounds in achieving enlightenment; neither were the stories any page-turners or cat-and-mouse chases, just pure literature. For the literature type, an absolute god-send; for the beach-goer, time to go back to the book shelf for another book; for the general reader, a good solid read but nothing earth-shattering and write home about; write a book review like this one, may be...
Author : Thomas Mann
What is it about : Seven short stories (I actually only read five of them) including the celebrated Death In Venice, have been included in this Everyman's Library series. A masterful 20-page Introduction by Daniel Johnson should ring the bell of what would be installed - a literature giant at full force, recounting or perhaps embellishing the themes, philosophies and episodes of his life. Taking the titled story for instance, a renowned author going through should one say, a middle-age crisis, infatuated by a Polish boy as he was on vacation on the shores of Venice. Subsequently, he spied on, stalked upon, and killed himself in his own tangled web of love; unknowingly perhaps, willingly maybe, through the fatal contagion of the virus from the lowland swamps.
Some thoughts after having read the book : A Wordsmith, A Great Communicator (through sentences), A Literature Giant, A Profound Thinker - descriptions which came to mind as I read through these stories. The Author had, the power of choosing the right words, the patience to fully form the setting, the depth of human knowledge to create the characters (including a dog). Take for example, the story " A Man And His Dog", I felt as if I knew this dog when it was still a puppy, I felt I even owned the dog and had taken it on numerous walkies and the experience of anxiety and helplessness when it coughed blood.
Would I recommend this book to you : An excellent way to enlarge your vocabulary as well as great lessons in learning how to apply the appropriate wordings to form the scenarios. However, I felt that the stories in the book would not break new grounds in achieving enlightenment; neither were the stories any page-turners or cat-and-mouse chases, just pure literature. For the literature type, an absolute god-send; for the beach-goer, time to go back to the book shelf for another book; for the general reader, a good solid read but nothing earth-shattering and write home about; write a book review like this one, may be...
