7.42 Thomas Mann — «Der Tod in Venedig» (III) — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read the last chapter of Der Tod in Venedig in five passages: the smell of disinfectant, the truth about the cholera, the barber who makes Aschenbach young, the overripe strawberries, and the death on the beach. Follow how a motif returns: the tiger of the first chapter, the made-up old man of the third, the stranger with bared teeth. Read official and scientific language inside a novel: the clerk's account of the epidemic. Recognise the narrator's judgement in the epithets he gives his hero: der Starrsinnige , der Einsame , der Berückte . Sentences from this text, before the notes. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English In der Enge verstärkte sich der Geruch. In the narrow street the smell grew stronger. Es war still, Gras wuchs zwischen dem Pflaster. It was quiet; grass grew between the paving stones. Seit mehreren Jahren schon hatte die indische Cholera eine verstärkte Neigung zur Ausbreitung und Wanderung an den Tag gelegt. For several years already, Indian cholera had shown an increased tendency to spread and travel. Venedigs Obrigkeit ließ antworten, daß die Gesundheitsverhältnisse der Stadt nie besser gewesen seien und traf die notwendigsten Maßregeln zur Bekämpfung. The authorities of Venice replied that the health of the city had never been better, and took the most necessary measures to combat the disease. Ja, es schien, als ob die Seuche eine Neubelebung ihrer Kräfte erfahren Indeed, it seemed as if the epidemic had gained new strength Gestatten Sie dem Fremden, Madame, Ihnen mit einem Rat, einer Warnung zu dienen, die der Eigennutz Ihnen vorenthält. Allow a stranger, madame, to do you the service of some advice, a warning, which self-interest is keeping from you. Prerequisites : 7.41 — you need the first chapters from 7.40 Reading and 7.41 Reading , and Konjunktiv I in reported speech from 2.26 Grammar . About this text Between the third and the fifth chapter Aschenbach's stay changes its nature. At the end of the third chapter he has learned the boy's name, Tadzio; in the omitted fourth chapter he watches him every day on the beach, writes a short essay in his presence, and finally admits to himself that he loves him. In the fifth chapter Venice hides an epidemic of Asian cholera so as not to frighten away its visitors, and Aschenbach, who could leave, stays. He follows the Polish family through the city at a distance, lets a barber dye his hair and paint his face, and falls ill. The passages here, about 3,600 words, come from the same edition as 7.40 Reading and 7.41 Reading . The sign […] marks omitted text, among it Aschenbach's dream of a wild Dionysian festival and his inner speech to Phaedrus, which recalls Plato's dialogues about beauty. The story ends with one of the most quoted final sentences in German literature. Grammar in the text Epithets for the hero. The narrator rarely uses Aschenbach's name in this chapter. He calls him der Starrsinnige (the obstinate one), der Einsame (the lonely one), der Berückte (the enchanted one): adjectives and participles used as nouns, as in 2.27 Grammar ; and once, bitterly, der Meister . Each epithet is a judgement, and together they show the reader how far the admired master of the second chapter has fallen. Reported and official language. The shopkeeper's answer imitates an official notice: Eine vorbeugende Maßregel, mein Herr! Eine Verfügung der Polizei, die man billigen muß. The clerk's long account of the epidemic, from the Ganges delta to Venice, reads like a medical report. Against it stands Aschenbach's whispered, emotional Man soll schweigen! The returning motif. The cholera comes from the swamps of the Ganges delta, in deren Bambusdickichten der Tiger kauert : the landscape of the vision in the first chapter. At the barber's, Aschenbach becomes what disgusted him on the steamer: an old man made up to look young. Mann builds the story out of such echoes. The last sentence. Und noch desselben Tages empfing eine respektvoll erschütterte Welt die Nachricht von seinem Tode. The genitive of time, desselben Tages , and the old dative Tode give the sentence the dignity of an official announcement, the tone of the second chapter, at the end of a death that was anything but dignified. Reading it a second time, section by section The smell (paragraphs 1–4). In the fourth week of his stay Aschenbach notices that the German guests are leaving. In Venice he smells disinfectant in the streets; a shopkeeper calls it a precaution against the sirocco. The German newspapers report rumours and official denials. Man soll schweigen! , Aschenbach thinks, and feels a strange satisfaction. The truth (paragraphs 6–9). In the English travel agency on St Mark's Square a young clerk tells him what the city hides: Indian cholera has spread from Asia to Europe and is in Venice, and the authorities conceal it to protect the hotels and shops. He advises him to leave today rather than tomorrow. Aschenbach thinks of warning Tadzio's mother, and decides to keep silent. The barber (paragraphs 11–18). Like any lover, Aschenbach wants to please, and is disgusted by his ageing body. The hotel barber talks him into dyeing his grey hair black and painting his face, until a blooming young man looks back at him from the mirror. The strawberries (paragraphs 20–22). Following the family through the labyrinth of the sick city, Aschenbach loses his way. Hot and thirsty, he buys overripe strawberries and eats them. He sits down on the steps of a cistern in a small square where weeks before he had decided to leave: the master, the author of Ein Elender , now lost. The beach (paragraphs 24–28). A few days later, feeling ill, he goes down to the almost empty beach; the Polish family is about to leave. In a game, a stronger boy, Jaschu, forces Tadzio down into the sand. Tadzio walks out alone to a sandbank, turns, and seems to Aschenbach to smile and beckon to him. His head sinks onto his chest, and wie so oft , as s