Death in Venice quote
"The observations and encounters of a devotee of solitude and silence are at once less distinct and more penetrating than those of the sociable man; his thoughts are weightier, stranger and never without a tinge of sadness. Images and perceptions which might otherwise be easily dispelled by a glance, a laugh, an exchange of comments, concern him unduly, they sink into mute depths, take on significance, become experiences, adventures, emotions. The fruit of solitude is originality, something daringly and disconcertingly beautiful, the poetic creation. But the fruit of solitude can also be the perverse, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden."

2 Comments:
Well chosen! Thomas Mann is brilliant. I should re-read D in V. Aschenbach is typical of the kind of unusual, off-beat, tortured characters he explores.
Um, yes, he does seem to have a lot in common with Tonio K. Beginning to suspect his heroes weren't all that dissimilar from his "real" self. Will try and find some telltale clues in his biog.
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