Online Journal

• 5.6.2010

  Prefiguration of death (in Venice), supplemented

  In an earlier post on Thomas Mann's use of prefiguration, I quoted a passage from the beginning of Death in Venice, in which Aschenbach has a sudden and strange vision that triggers his desire to travel:

  "er sah wie mit leiblichem Auge eine ungeheure Landschaft, ein tropisches Sumpfgebiet unter dickdunstigem Himmel, feucht, üppig und ungesund, eine von Menschen gemiedene Urweltwildnis aus Inseln, Morästen und Schlamm führenden Wasserarmen [...] — und fühlte sein Herz pochen vor Entsetzen und rätselhaftem Verlangen." (189)

  In this description, I noticed, some allusions can easily be recognized to Aschenbach's later stay in Venice, given the damaging effect that the climate conditions at this place have on Aschenbach (an effect that is noted several times, see 214, 222 and 225). Even more plain, however, are the parallels in this passage to another one, in which Aschenbach (and we, as the readers) learn the truth about what's going on around him: namely, an outbreak of cholera. Aschenbach is told this by an English clerk from a Venetian travel bureau, and he is given a comprehensive account of the spreading of the epidemic, with all its medical and political background, and in both precise detail and colorful language. Especially interesting is the choice of words at the beginning of this account, which relates the Indian origins of the disease:

  "Seit mehreren Jahren schon hatte die indische Cholera eine verstärkte Neigung zur Ausbreitung und Wanderung an den Tag gelegt. Erzeugt aus den warmen Morästen des Ganges-Deltas, aufgestiegen mit dem memphitischen Odem jener üppig-untauglichen, von Menschen gemiedenen Urwelt- und Inselwildnis hatte die Seuche in ganz Hindustan andauernd und ungewöhnlich heftig gewütet", and so on (253–254).

  Not only evoke these two passages the same motifs and moods, but Mann signals his intention to suggest a connection here even at the level of choice of single words and phrases, viz. 'üppig', 'von Menschen gemieden' and 'Urweltwildnis aus Inseln'/'Urwelt- und Inselwildnis'. This creates a strong cohesion which ties the two passages together.

  Again, the use of this technique suggests that Mann intended to symbolize, in Aschenbach's vision early in the story, not only his later going to Venice, but also already the sickness he encounters there. Not only is death prefigured here, but also its cause.