Karolina Watroba

Death in Venice is Thomas Mann’s most famous – and infamous - novella. Published in 1912, it’s about the fall of the repressed writer Gustav von Aschenbach, when his supposedly objective appreciation of a young boy’s beauty becomes sexual obsession. It explores the link between creativity and self-destruction, and by the end Aschenbach’s humiliation is complete, dying on a deckchair in the act of ogling. Aschenbach's stalking of the boy and dreaming of pederasty can appal modern readers, even more than Mann expected. With Karolina Watroba, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Modern Languages at All Souls College, University of OxfordErica Wickerson, a Former Research Fellow at St Johns College, University of CambridgeSean Williams, Senior Lecturer in German and European Cultural History at the University of Sheffield Sean Williams' series of Radio 3's The Essay, Death in Trieste, can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lzd4

In this thought-provoking discussion, guests Karolina Watroba, an expert in Modern Languages, Erica Wickerson, a former Research Fellow at Cambridge, and Sean Williams, a Senior Lecturer in German Culture, delve deep into Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice." They explore the complex themes of obsession, beauty, and self-destruction through the tragic figure of Gustav von Aschenbach. The conversation also highlights the interplay between desire and morality, linking Mann's writing to contemporary societal challenges and the philosophical tensions of art and life.