Famous for his novels, Thomas Mann is more accessible through the shorter fictio
ns which span his entire career. The most famous of these stories is one of the
earliest. Death in Venice was made into the celebrated Visconti film, but all hi
s mature preoccupations are present in this story: the need for a sense of meani
ng in existence, the relationship between life and art, the central role of sexu
al energy and the strange forms it can take, the place of death and disease, the
importance of work, the individual's complex relations with his society and the
dominant culture.
These themes are developed in a series of brilliant storie
s, may of them very short and displaying the author's talent for macabre comedy.
Dr Faustus and Buddenbrooks are already available in Everyman
