Death in Venice
Gustav von Aschenbach is a writer who falls in love with a handsome teenager in Venice. Gustav von Aschenbach, a solitary author, is about 50 years old. He is a widow and has a grown-up daughter whom he almost never sees, and cares more about artistic inspiration than he does about the fame he gets from his books. Increasingly anxious about his advancing age, and growing restless with his life in Germany, he decides to travel abroad for the summer. Fi... The Black Swan
Widow Rosalie von Tummler and her two children Anna and Eduard live in Dusseldorf, Germany after World War II. Her face and figure make her look years younger than her middle age, with only her graying hair betraying her. Herr von Tummler had been a rake and a scoundrel with women before he passed away. Anna, eighteen-years old, has a clubfoot and is an extremely bright, aspiring artist. Eduard, age six, is tutored in English by a 24-year old America... The Magic Mountain
In the years preceding World War I, the son of a wealthy German merchant travels to a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to visit his sick cousin, but after contracting tuberculosis himself, he becomes a long term patient among a diverse and philosophically allegorical cast of characters, each struggling to grasp the essential nature of death and existence. Hans Castorp, orphaned after his wealthy parents died while he was still a young boy, is now in his 20s ...
