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Durden/Muller: German Lit - In Thomas Mann's novella, Death in Venice, the readers view the degradation of body and spirit of Gustav von Ashenbach.
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Matt Anderson Durden/Muller: German Lit In Thomas Mann's novella, Death in Venice, the readers view the degradation of body and spirit of Gustav von Ashenbach. A renowned writer from an early age, he had never felt the joy and freedom that waited outside his pursuit of excellence and perfection. Thomas Mann uses parallels to Greek mythology, particularly through Apollonian and Dionysian themes, and the decline of Venice and Ashenbach's health as time goes by to develop his novella. The ancient Greek lifestyle had two forces that had to be balanced to bring about any form of stability. Mann, following Plato's theories, believed that the conflict between conscious will and uncontrolled passion, between rational morality and passionate art, was the crucial struggle in human existence. The two polar forces were Dionysian, from those associating with the god Dionysus, and Apollonian, from those associating with the god Apollo. While Dionysus...
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