Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories
"Read this," you said, handing me Death in Venice, "you'll enjoy it!""What's it about," I asked.
"It's a story whose entire premise is based on a perverted old man lusting ghoulishly after the youth of a handsome, young boy," you said.
"Fuck off," I shouted.
I don't usually go in for the old-man-desires-the-youthful-essence-of-a-boy genre, but Death in Venice spoke to me. Maybe it's vanity and the fear of losing the beauty and natural exuberance of youth, or the sadness felt at the passing and irretrievable loss of those carefree days. The fear of growing old and eventually dying, that inevitability of having lived, is strong in most of us. We chase it with creams, ointments, dyes, jells, injections and surgery. But it only comes once for all of us. Even if it's the beauty of another which we wish to preserve, as is also the case with the main character in Mann's book, we must come to grips with the loss. As precious as it may appear, the seeming perfection of youth is fleeting in us all. Enjoy it while you can, but realize you must sooner or later let go.