120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ

Come visit us this weekend!๐Ÿš€ Auckland Bookstore โ€ข Open 7 days, 8:30amโ€“5pm

Death in Venice

3.68 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 70,439 ratings, 5,549 reviews)
Brief Description
Erudite, respectable writer Gustav Aschenbach lives a life of structured routine. One day, as he puzzles over his stubborn writer's block, Aschenbach has a dazzling vision that leaves him with a restless urge to abandon his settled life and travel south to Venice. On checking into... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4700

International Supplier

This title is in-stock with overseas suppliers. While it is not available locally, we fly books in weekly from the US and UK to our Auckland warehouse for immediate dispatch.

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

A new translation of Thomas Mann's classic tale of obsession and infatuation amid the haunting decay of Venice.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Erudite, respectable writer Gustav Aschenbach lives a life of structured routine. One day, as he puzzles over his stubborn writer's block, Aschenbach has a dazzling vision that leaves him with a restless urge to abandon his settled life and travel south to Venice.

On checking into his hotel, Aschenbach notices a young Polish boy of perfect, sculptural beauty: Tadzio. As he lingers on at the hotel, Aschenbach falls into an ever-deeper infatuation with the youth, whose curled blond hair and porcelain face fill him with rapture. Ignoring whispered warnings of a cholera outbreak in the city, Aschenbach chooses to stay close to Tadzio, his mind swirling with mad desire.

Classical in structure yet roiled by disturbing passion, Death in Venice is an enormously powerful story of one man's undoing.

'The greatest German novelist of the 20th century' - Spectator

'A monumental writer' - Sunday Telegraph

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781805332688

Publisher: Pushkin Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 January 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pushkin Press Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by Lesley Chamberlain

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 112

About the Author

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was perhaps Germany's most famous twentieth-century writer. Born to a merchant family in Lรผbeck, Mann was preparing to enter the family business when his father suddenly died and the business was liquidated. The Manns moved to Munich, where Mann began his literary career with the epic novel Buddenbrooks (1901), which was a huge success. Further novels and stories followed, including Death in Venice (1912) and The Magic Mountain (1924); five years following publication of the latter novel, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. When Hitler came to power, Mann fled to Switzerland, and from there he escaped to California at the outbreak of the Second World War. He is buried in Switzerland, where he spent his final years.

Lesley Chamberlain is a British writer and critic who has written extensively on German and Russian literature and published three novels.

Also by Thomas Mann

View all
  • Death in Venice And Other Stories
    'A story of the voluptuousness of doom' โ€” Thomas Mann Translated and Introduced by David Luke Death in Venice is a story of obsession. Gustave von Aschenbach is a successful but ageing writer who travels to Venice for a holiday. One day, at dinner, Aschenbach notices an exceptionally beautiful young boy who is staying with his family in the same...
    Paperback
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Magic Mountain
    The Magic Mountain is a European masterpiece from the Nobel prizewinner, exploring the lure and degeneration of ideas in an introverted community on the eve of World War I. As Seen on BBC Between the Covers The Magic Mountain presents Hans Castorp as 'a perfectly ordinary, if engaging young man' when he visits his cousin in an exclusive sanatorium in...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    Backorder
    Ships early October
  • Buddenbrooks
    Buddenbrooks, Mann's semi-autobiographical and sweeping family epic, is the book that won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Discover Mann's Nobel Prize-winning semi-autobiographical and sweeping family epic. The Buddenbrook clan is everything you'd expect of a nineteenth-century German merchant familyโ€”wealthy, esteemed, established. Four generations later, a tide of twentieth-century modernism has gradually disintegrated the bourgeois values on which the Buddenbrooks...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Death in Venice
    An atmospheric story of obsession and inner conflict set in the oppressive heat of a Venetian summer, Death in Venice is considered to be one of Thomas Mann's greatest works. Death in Venice is part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics bound in cloth with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make...
    Hardback
    $2500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Doctor Faustus
    A masterpiece of German modernism and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Doctor Faustus tells the story of Adrian Leverkรผhn, a young man destined for success. He is a composerโ€”creative and brilliantโ€”but he will stop at nothing to achieve greatness. Intentionally contracting syphilis in order to deepen his creative potential through madness, Adrian makes his pact with...
    Paperback
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Pre-order
    The Magic Mountain
    One of the greatest works of twentieth-century European literature, in the definitive English translation. It is summertime in the Swiss Alps. Hans Castorp, an ordinary young man, has arrived at an exclusive sanitorium for a brief visit to his convalescent cousin. Once there, time will lose its familiar contours, as Hans himself falls ill and loses himself in a landscape...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Pre-order
    Out 11 Feb 2027
  • The Buddenbrooks
    'All his powers were in decline; the only thing growing stronger in him was the conviction that all this could not last much longer, that his demise was imminent.' The Buddenbrooks (1900) was Thomas Mann's first major success. It draws on his own family history and on his vivid memories of growing up in the commercial town of Lรผbeck in...
    Paperback
    $4700
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Death In Venice
    Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustave von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfilment that instead leads to his erotic doom. In the decaying city, besieged by an...
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Death in Venice
    As the ageing Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous author who has recently been ennobled in recognition of his literary achievements, arrives in Venice for a holiday and checks into his Lido hotel, he is struck by the arresting good looks of Tadzio, an aristocratic Polish youth of around fourteen who is sojourning there with his family. Gradually, what starts as...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Love and Enchantment
    This triptych of stories represents some of the finest work by the great German master, Thomas Mann. From a classic early account of artistic formation, suffused with deep melancholy, to works that explore the complex social fractures of his time, this volume showcases the range of Mann's genius and his matchless understanding of character. In sparkling new translations by Lesley...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Joseph and His Brothers
    The definitive translation of Mann's magnum opus Thomas Mann described Joseph and His Brothers as his 'pyramid'โ€”his greatest literary achievement, although the Nazi regime in his homeland did their best to tear it down on its first publication. A vivid and dazzlingly ambitious epic, it retells the biblical story of Joseph, whose dreams and visions set him apart from his...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Buddenbrooks
    The definitive English translation of Mann's first masterpieceโ€”a grand epic of family life. 'I bear within me the seed, the rudiments, the possibility of life's capacities and endeavours. Where might I be, if I were not here?' Buddenbrooks is one of the original, and greatest, of family chroniclesโ€”the story of four generations of a wealthy and bourgeois German family as...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from General Fiction

View all
  • Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE โ€” Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE โ€” Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE โ€” Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS โ€” Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale โ€” Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came fromโ€ฆHis name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance โ€“...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people โ€” but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books)
    All five of the Court of Thorns and Roses paperbacks packaged together in a gorgeous box set. "Passionate, violent, sexy and daring." โ€”USA TODAY on A Court of Thorns and Roses Feyre is a huntress. The skin of a wolf would bring enough gold to feed her sisters for a month. But the life of a magical creature comes at...
    Set
    $9999
    Elsewhere:
    $12495
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Mist and Fury
    A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas continues Feyre Archeron's epic journey in the world of the High Fae. Having survived the brutal trials under the Mountain, Feyre returns to the Spring Court. Though she now possesses the immortal powers of the High Fae, the traumatic experiences have left scars on her human heart. Haunted by the...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Wings and Ruin
    The third instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. In A Court of Wings and Ruin, the gripping third book of the ACOTAR series, Feyre Archeron faces the ultimate battle for her world. Having returned to the Spring Court, she is determined to gather...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses
    The first instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON and TikTok sensation, from multi-million selling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan โ€“ Time Harry Potter magic, Taylor Swift sass, Fifty Shades-level athleticism โ€“ The Sunday Times With bits of Buffy, Game of Thrones and Outlander, this is a glorious series...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Frost and Starlight
    In A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas, readers are invited to revisit the enchanting world of Prythian in a heartwarming and introspective narrative. Set against the backdrop of the Winter Solstice, Feyre Archeron and her mate Rhysand return to centre stage as they strive to restore the Night Court after the devastating conflicts of A Court...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Frost and Starlight - Night Court Edition
    Limited Edition
    A Court of Frost and Starlight - Night Court Edition
    The magic and beauty of the Night Court is captured in these LIMITED EDITIONS of the Court of Thorns and Roses series! This Night Court Edition features the Night Court symbol on a striking black and silver foiled cover and includes black sprayed edges. An unmissable companion tale to the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Silver Flames - Night Court Edition
    Limited Edition
    A Court of Silver Flames - Night Court Edition
    The magic and beauty of the Night Court is captured in these LIMITED EDITIONS of the Court of Thorns and Roses series! This Night Court Edition features the Night Court symbol on a striking black and silver foiled cover and includes black sprayed edges. The latest instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Silver Flames
    The latest instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan - Time Think Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James โ€“ Telegraph Spiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • A Court of Wings and Ruin - Night Court Edition
    Limited Edition
    A Court of Wings and Ruin - Night Court Edition
    The magic and beauty of the Night Court is captured in these LIMITED EDITIONS of the Court of Thorns and Roses series! This Night Court Edition features the Night Court symbol on a striking black and silver foiled cover and includes black sprayed edges. The third installment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

General Fiction lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!