Age in Death in Venice (plus rant)

Creeperrr...: he even has the mustache.Well, this book was by far my least favorite. Yes, the prose was beautiful sometimes, but I think the author got carried away with it and the book definitely went on for about 100 pages more than it needed to. I hated the lack of dialogue and action, and I really just didn't like the main character, who was the only person the reader is ever given any insight into. The fact that it was a fairly short book hardly makes up for the suffering I experienced while reading it. Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

Now that that's taken care of, one interesting thing brought up by the book (perhaps the only interesting thing) was the portrayal of age through the perspective of the narrator. The reader is made aware of some of Aschenbach's thoughts on age, which conflict with his desire for a boy much younger than him and his thoughts on that desire. Toward the beginning of the book, when Aschenbach first leaves Munich, he recounts his shock and disgust at an old man who happens to be his fellow passenger. He is somewhat enraged by the fact that this man is acting like the youthful passengers around him, in dress and manner. The man is often drunk and crude, and wears clothes that the narrator deems only fit for young men. Although Aschenbach sees the man as a sore thumb among the people he associates with, those men have accepted him into their circle and seem to pay no attention to his age. Aschenbach is shocked at this, and views the man's behavior as inappropriate. This of course, is completely hypocritical of him.

Also, toward the end of the book, the narrator describes an instance involving a group of street singers in Venice. He describes how lively and animated the guitarist is and how well the audience responds to him. During the description of his performance, Aschenbach refers to the fact that his features gave no indication of his age, and then goes on to say that, "the suspicious character seemed to bring his own suspicious atmosphere with him." The fact that Aschenbach can not determine the performers age arouses suspicion, and causes the narrator to reject him, although the guitarist is received so favorably by those surrounding him.

The narrator's suspicion and disgust regarding the ages of the people he meets in his travels draws attention to how hypocritical he is. Aschenbach is so concerned about the man on the boat and his perceived defiance of age boundaries, but shows no remorse or guilt over the age boundaries he crosses with his intense lust for Tadzio. He is also disgusted by his own age and appearance that he goes so far as to change it, which can be seen as defying the age boundaries he so firmly believes in. He pursues Tadzio, but never admits to ever feeling that his feelings toward the boy are wrong. This contrasts deeply with his aversion to an old man who is merely dressing and acting youthful.
Because I saw him as hypocritical and uninteresting as a literary character, I was really not too broken up about Aschenbach's death, just glad that the book was over.