DEATHS IN VENICE
LEONARD HASTINGS SCHOFF LECTURES
UNIVERSITY SEMINARS LEONARD HASTINGS SCHOFF MEMORIAL LECTURES
The University Seminars at Columbia University sponsor an annual series of lectures, with the support of the Leonard Hastings Schoff and Suzanne Levick Schoff Memorial Fund. A member of the Columbia faculty is invited to deliver before a general audience three lectures on a topic of his or her choosing. Columbia University Press publishes the lectures.
David Cannadine, The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1993
Charles Larmore, The Romantic Legacy, 1994
Saskia Sassen, Sovereignty Transformed: States and the New Transnational Actors, 1995
Robert Pollack, The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith: Order, Meaning, and Free Will in Modern Medical Science, 2000
Ira Katznelson, Desolation and Enlightenment: Political Knowledge After the Holocaust, Totalitarianism, and Total War, 2003
Lisa Anderson, Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-First Century, 2003
Partha Chatterjee, The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World, 2004
David Rosand, The Invention of Painting in America, 2004
George Rupp, Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community, 2007
Lesley A. Sharp, Bodies, Commodities, and Technologies, 2007
Robert Hanning, Serious Play: Desire and Authority in the Poetry of Ovid, Chaucer, and Ariosto, 2010
Douglas A. Chalmers, Reforming Democracies: Six Facts About Politics That Demand a New Agenda, 2013
Deaths in Venice
THE CASES OF
GUSTAV VON ASCHENBACH
Philip Kitcher
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-53603-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kitcher, Philip, 1947–
Deaths in Venice : the cases of Gustav von Aschenbach / Philip Kitcher
pages cm. —(Leonard Hastings Schoff Memorial Lectures)
ISBN 978-0-231-16264-7 (cloth : acid-free paper) —
ISBN 978-0-231-53603-5 (e-book)
1. Mann, Thomas, 1875–1955. Tod in Venedig. 2. Philosophy in literature.
I. Title.
pt2625.a44t6438 2013
833’.912—dc23
2013007247
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].
Jacket design by Julia Kushnirsky
References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
For Isaac, and in memory of Sidney
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
List of Abbreviations
A Note on Translations
1. Discipline
2. Beauty
3. Shadows
Notes
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
2.1. Kinderkarneval, Friedrich August Kaulbach, 1888 (the five Pringsheim children)
2.2. Three declamations (Vere, Claggart, Aschenbach)
3.1 The newspaper photograph of Mahler from which Mann worked
3.2. Kindertotenlieder 1: close
3.3. Mahler, Adagietto, opening theme
3.4. Kindertotenlieder 2, Rückertlied: openings
3.5. Kindertotenlieder 2: two extracts
3.6. Das Lied von der Erde: extract from movement 5
3.7. Das Lied von der Erde: extract from movement 6
3.8. Das Lied von der Erde: extract from movement 6
3.9. Das Lied von der Erde: closing measures
3.10. Das Lied von der Erde: close of movement 1
3.11. Tadzio on the sandbar (from Visconti’s film)
PREFACE
During the 1990s, when I was teaching at the University of California at San Diego, I had several conversations with Carol Plantamura—music teacher, colleague, and good friend—about the possibility of a course that would focus on operas and their literary or dramatic sources. We planned to explore the ways in which central ideas, including philosophical ideas, were treated differently in the opera or in the story or play. I no longer remember all the possible pairings we discussed, but I recall the examples we definitely planned to use: Otello and Othello, Wozzeck and Woyzeck—and Death in Venice and Death in Venice.
The course was never taught, but, after my move to Columbia, I continued to think about the guiding idea and, as I read and reread Thomas Mann, about the example of Death in Venice in particular. Along the way, I became convinced that Luchino Visconti’s film also belonged in the mix, although more for its use of Mahler’s music than as an artistic work in its own right.
When Robert Belknap honored and delighted me with an invitation to deliver the Schoff Lectures, I saw it as a wonderful occasion for working out something I had pondered for a while. The Schoff Lectures offer Columbia faculty an opportunity to go in new directions, to cut across disciplinary lines with assistance from an audience of wide-ranging experts. I have tried to take advantage of that opportunity, and, although I cannot possibly claim to be a specialist about any, let alone all, of Mann, Britten, and Mahler, I hope readers will welcome an approach that seeks connections not only among them but also to philosophy, and that experts will not feel I have abused the license.
I began working out those connections during a sabbatical in Berlin, when I was a visitor at the Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte. There, Michael Gordin, Tania Munz, and I formed a collective, die Tod-in-Venedig Gruppe, in which we discussed Mann’s novella, and our conversations were immensely illuminating for me. I was also extremely fortunate to be able to participate in an informal discussion group at the Wissenschaftskolleg, with Moira Gatens and Candace Vogler, from both of whom I have learned much about philosophy in/ and/of literature.
My time in Berlin prepared me to write the original lectures, and I am most grateful for the fortitude of those who came out in frigid winter weather to hear them. I learned from many good questions, and I was encouraged by the interest expressed. I owe a particular debt to three friends and colleagues who provided wonderful introductions: many thanks to Edward Mendelson, Wayne Proudfoot, and, especially, Fred Neuhouser.
The lectures were extended to a full book manuscript during the spring and summer of 2011. Columbia University Press obtained the services of two extremely careful and constructive readers, Mark Anderson and Bence Nanay, whose many comments and suggestions have enabled me to make significant improvements. I have also benefited from the insightful suggestions of Moira Gatens, Lydia Goehr, Michael Gordin, Marilyn McCoy, Fred Neuhouser, Chris Peacocke, and Candace Vogler. Although I did not work on rewriting during a second period in Berlin, when I was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg during the academic year 2011–2012, that time was full of valuable conversations about philosophy in literature and music. I am especially indebted to Jeremy Adler, Alfred Brendel, Ayse Bugra, Klaus Reichert, and Mauricio Sotelo. Their insights have helped me in composing the final version.
I feel deeply fortunate to have been able to spend the later years of my career at Columbia. Its combination of intellectual tough-mindedness, openness to new ideas, and readiness to foster connections across many different di
sciplines makes it, in my experience, a uniquely stimulating environment. I have learned much from colleagues and friends not only across the full range of the arts and sciences, but beyond.
My dedication is intended to acknowledge the ways in which discussions at Columbia have changed my thinking. Two senior colleagues (and—again—friends), my immediate predecessors as John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, have had more influence than they might have suspected. So this book is for Isaac Levi and in memory of Sidney Morgenbesser.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AMML
Alma Mahler-Werfel, Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968)
Briefe
Thomas Mann, Briefe, 3 vol. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1995–1996)
BU
Thomas Mann, Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2004)
DF
Thomas Mann, Doktor Faustus (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2005)
dMM
Peter de Mendelssohn, Der Zauberer: Das Leben des deutschen Schriftstellers Thomas Mann, 3 vols. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1975–1992)
Essays
Thomas Mann, Essays, 6 vols. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1993–2002)
FGM
Stuart Feder, Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004)
GKFA
Thomas Mann Werke, Briefe, Tagebücher; Grosse Kommentierte Frankfurter Ausgabe, many vols. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2002–). The volumes come in pairs, the first of each pair consisting of Mann’s texts and the second comprising commentary; thus GKFA 8.1 contains the early stories (including Death in Venice), and GKFA 8.2 consists of notes, commentary, and so on.
GMB
Gustav Mahler, Briefe (Vienna: Zsolnay, 1996)
H
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, trans. Michael Henry Heim (New York: Harper Collins, 2004)
HarpM
Klaus Harpprecht, Thomas Mann, Eine Biographie, 2 vols. (Hamburg: Roholt, 1995)
HDL
Stephen Hefling, Das Lied von der Erde (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)
HLM
Henry-Louis de La Grange, Mahler, 4 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1973 [vol. 1]; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979–1985 [vols. 2–4])
JSB
Thomas Mann, Joseph und seine Brüder, 1 vol. ed. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2007)
K
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, trans. and ed. Clayton Koelb (New York: Norton, 1994). Norton Critical Edition.
KMM
Katia Mann, Meine ungeschriebenen Memoiren (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2004)
L
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice and Other Stories, trans. David Luke (New York: Bantam, 1988)
LIW
Thomas Mann, Lotte in Weimar (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2004)
LP
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories, trans. H. T. Lowe-Porter (New York: Vintage, 1936)
MC
Donald Mitchell and Andrew Nicholson, eds., The Mahler Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)
NW
Friedrich Nietzsche, Werke, 15 vols., ed. G. Colli and M. Montinari (Munich: Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, 1999)
PL
August von Platen, Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen, Ein Lesebuch (Munich: Deutsche Taschenbuch, 1996)
PT
August von Platen, Tagebücher, 2 vols. (Hildesheim: Olms, 1969). Reproduction of the original edition (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1896, 1900).
PTM
August von Platen, Memorandum meines Lebens (selections from PT) (Frankfurt: Insel, 1996)
PW
Plato, Complete Works, ed. John Cooper (Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 1997)
Reed
T. J. Reed, Thomas Mann: The Uses of Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)
TB
Thomas Mann, Tagebücher, 10 vols. (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2003)
THBW
Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann, Briefwechsel 1900–49 (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1984)
UMS
Thomas Mann, Über mich selbst (Frankfurt: Fischer, 2002)
WWV
Arthur Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, vols. 1–4 of Werke, 10 vols. (Zurich: Diogenes, 1977)
A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS
Translations from German and French sources are my own. I have not attempted literary elegance but have focused on conveying the sense of the texts I quote or allude to, as I understand them.
As noted in the list of abbreviations, four translations of Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice are frequently cited. The original translation by Mrs. H. T. Lowe-Porter (cited as LP) was valuable in introducing Thomas Mann’s story to an English audience, but, as Mann eventually came to understand, her renderings of his works were not always distinguished by their accuracy. Although the Lowe-Porter translations continue to be widespread, they have been surpassed in recent years by some truly excellent alternatives. For Death in Venice, David Luke’s version (cited as L) set new and higher standards: Luke’s book is also valuable in containing other stories (including “Little Herr Friedemann”) that are not often included in collections of Mann’s early short fiction. Two other translations meet the demanding precedent set by Luke. Clayton Koelb’s Norton Critical Edition (cited as K) is, like Luke’s version, careful and sensitive to the nuances of Mann’s thoughts; Koelb also reprints some of the best commentary on Death in Venice and provides extracts from Mann’s letters and the full working notes for the novella. Finally, Michael Henry Heim’s translation (cited as H) has rightly won acclaim for its literary qualities.
English readers owe much to all these translators. As with so many (all?) major writers, however, there is no substitute for reading Thomas Mann in the original.
ONE
Discipline
1
It is a very simple story. A writer of some note has encountered, at least temporarily, obstacles in his current projects. Deciding that he needs release from the pressures of his daily routine, he journeys to Venice. There, on the lido, he becomes fascinated by the beauty of an adolescent boy. Returning to his home in Munich, he is inspired to write a novella about the experience, a work that gains an enthusiastic reception and is retrospectively viewed as an advance in his literary development.
That story describes events in Thomas Mann’s life in 1911–1912 and beyond. After the enormous early success of Buddenbrooks—among other things it had won him a bride, one of the great catches of early twentieth-century Munich—he had written a sequence of shorter fictions, most notably the novella Tonio Kröger, which had been rapturously received by young literati. His attempt at a drama, Fiorenza, was, however, almost universally regarded as wooden, and the second novel—the fairy tale (Märchen) Royal Highness (Königliche Hoheit)—despite excellent initial sales, attained only measured success: the critical praise it received was muted and restrained in comparison with the accolades showered upon Buddenbrooks.1 Mann had sketched other projects: a work on the life of Frederick the Great, a novella or novel tentatively entitled “Maia,” an essay on “Geist und Kunst” (“Intellect and Art”).2 He had also begun the book (or book fragment?) that would eventually—decades later—be published as The Confessions of Felix Krull. But in the spring of 1911, progress on this had been halted (Mann had problems sustaining the voice and the humor),3 and he determined to leave Munich for a holiday, accompanied by his wife, Katia, and his brother Heinrich. On his return, he set the Krull manuscript aside and, in a period of about a year, not without struggle, completed Der Tod in Venedig (Death in Venice).
That long novella, the object of enormous critical scrutiny and discussion—even in 1975, Peter de Mendelssohn could write of the impossibility of examining all the individual studies4—is rightly seen as a watershed in Mann’s development as a writer (as Schriftsteller or, as he hoped, Dichter).5 To record the experiences of his author-protagonist Aschenbach, Mann crafted a new prose style, increasing the length and syntactic comp
lexity of his sentences, the richness of his vocabulary. Aschenbach’s voice, the dominant but not the only voice of the novella, expresses ideas and feelings of such intricacy, nuance, ambiguity, and irony that the plainer narrative language common to the earlier stories (even Tonio Kröger) and the two novels would be inadequate to them.6 Through creating Aschenbach’s voice and that of his narrator, Mann made Hans Castorp and his successors possible.7
Reflecting on Death in Venice, Mann explains that “nothing was invented.”8 As in the case of his protagonist, his own journey began with an encounter at the north cemetery in Munich and continued with a false start and a sea voyage to Venice; “the old dandy, the suspicious gondolier, Tadzio and his family, the unsuccessful departure due to a mix-up with the luggage, the cholera, the honest clerk in the travel agency, the malicious itinerant singer, or whatever else is mentioned—everything was given.”9 There are small exaggerations in this claim: although there were rumors of cholera in Venice during the Manns’ time there, the actual outbreak was in Palermo; the mix-up with the luggage happened to Heinrich and didn’t actually prevent a (temporary) departure. Larger differences between story and experience are also apparent: Mann replaced his thirty-five-year-old self with a significantly older figure: Aschenbach is fifty-three, has completed the works Mann had been sketching, and is recently ennobled (he is now von Aschenbach). Mann was traveling with his wife whereas Aschenbach has long been a widower and, as the novella progresses, is often characterized by the narrator as a solitary figure (“der Einsame”). And, most decisively, although Mann returns from Venice to write, Aschenbach dies there.
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