Η ΓΕΝΝΗΣΗ ΕΝΟΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΥΡΓΗΜΑΤΟΣ

ΣΑΝ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ, ΤΟ 1911...

... ο Τόμας Μαν, συγκλονισμένος από το θάνατο
του συνθέτη Γκούσταβ Μάλερ, φτάνει στη Βενετία,
έχοντας ήδη στο μυαλό του το σχέδιο για το
αριστουργηματικό έργο του
" Θάνατος στη Βενετία", που θα εκδοθεί
ένα χρόνο αργότερα.
Ο Μαν αργότερα θα πει για τις συνθήκες
σύλληψης του βιβλίου τα εξής:

"The conception of my story was influenced, in the early summer of 1911, by the news of Gustav Mahler's death. I had been fortunate to make his acquaintance previously, in Munich, and his burningly intense personality had made the strongest impression upon me. On the island of Brioni where I stayed at the time of his passing, I followed the bulletins about his last hours in the Viennese press, and gave to my protagonist not only the first name of the great musician but I also lent to him Mahler's mask when describing his appearance.".

Ο πρωταγωνιστής του έργου είναι πιστό σχεδόν αντίγραφο
του Μάλερ, φέρει μάλιστα και το όνομά του.
Ιδού πώς περιγράφει τον καθηγητή Γκούσταβ
Φον Άσενμπαχ, δηλαδή τον Μάλερ:

"Gustav von Aschenbach was slightly below medium height, dark-haired and clean shaven. His head seemed somewhat too large in proportion to his almost delicate figure. His hair was brushed straight back, thinning where he parted it, quite thick and strongly tinged with gray at the temples, framing a high forehead furrowed by scar-like ridges. The bridge of a pair of glasses with a gold frame and rimless lenses cut into the base of his sturdy, aristocratically shaped nose. His mouth was large, sometimes slack, sometimes becoming narrow and tense; his cheeks were thin and furrowed by wrinkles, his well-shaped chin showed a cleft. His head was usually one inclined to one side as if ailing; fateful experiences seemed to have passed over it, yet it had been his art which here had taken over that molding of the facial features which with others is the result of a hard and eventful life."