Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories

A collection of Mann's shorter fiction, led by the novella Death in Venice. In that tale a distinguished, disciplined older writer travels to Venice and becomes fixated on a beautiful Polish boy, while the city grows uneasy around him. The other stories show Mann's early range, with lonely, sensitive or out-of-place figures set against ordinary society, often treated with humour and sympathy. Together they explore art, desire, discipline and the outsider's longing to belong. The collection is a good way into his themes and his precise, ironic style.