Published in 1913; Thomas Manns Death in Venice is one of the most widely read novellas in any language. In the 1970s; Benjamin Britten adapted it into an opera; and Lucchino Visconti turned it into a successful film. Reading these works from a philosophical perspective; Philip Kitcher connects the predicament of the novellas central character to Western thoughts most compelling questions.In Manns story; the author Gustav von Aschenbach becomes captivated by an adolescent boy; first seen on the lido in Venice; the eventual site of Aschenbachs own death. Mann works through central concerns about how to live; explored with equal intensity by his German predecessors; Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Kitcher considers how Manns; Brittens; and Viscontis treatments illuminate the tension between social and ethical values and an artists sensitivity to beauty. Each work asks whether a life devoted to self-sacrifice in the pursuit of lasting achievements can be sustained; and whether the breakdown of discipline undercuts its worth. Haunted by the prospect of his death; Aschenbach also helps reflect on whether it is possible to achieve anything in full awareness of our finitude and in knowing our successes are always incomplete.
#310185 in eBooks 2013-01-11 2013-01-11File Name: B00GDFR5F4
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A rounded portrait.By Scott HattA terrific; well researched biography of a multifaceted master of painting. The solid references and bibliography provide a foundation for further research and readings. Rothko is seen in context with his family; artistic peers; and the American art world of his time. An enjoyable read. The translation is solid.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Not for meBy Liz CollinsDisjointed. The first two chapters show Rothko as a young man and young immigrant...a scholar; a debater....but no mention of art; or interest in art; or skill in art. Suddenly hes dropped out of Yale because hes unhappy and frustrated that they dont welcome him and admire him there.. And then.....hes an artist in New York and has an agent and has had shows in NYC and Paris. Thats a pretty big leap.After that the author wants to talk about the art movement; how behind the Americans are and how the new abstract/expressionist/cubist movement is dominated by Jewish immigrants. At that point I lost interest. The book really isnt about Rothko; and often disintegrates into paragraphs of names.11 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Mark Rothko...By Jill MeyerAuthor Annie Cohen-Solal; in her new biography; "Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel"; asks the provocative question; "Why; when during the previous centuries Jews had generally been absent from the visual arts; did the dawn of abstraction coincide with their entrance into the world of art; with Jewish collectors; critics; artists; dealers detecting; supporting; and following the lessons of the first Modernists?" And she answers it in her book by looking at the life; career; and world of Mark Rothko.Rothko was at the turning point when American artists began to be valued as much as their European counterparts. He was part of a group of painters - Robert Motherwell; Jackson Pollock; among other contemporaries - whose art transcended the past and moved these artists into the mainstream of accepted art. Their art was finally purchased and exhibited at the MoMA - which had the mindset of "European-art-is-best" - in the 1940s and 1950s.Cohen-Solal examines Mark Rothko - born Marcus Rothkowitz in 1904 in current-day Latvia - in as much of a religious context as that of an artistic. For Rothko was a Jewish artist; and his religious beliefs and practices were important to his art. Mark Rothko emigrated from the Pale of Settlement in 1907 as conditions for the Jewish population became increasingly tenuous. His family settled in Portland; Oregon where his father died a few years later. Rothko was raised as an observant Jew - though curiously his elder brothers and sister were raised somewhat more haphazardly - and he was active as a teenager in the Russian Jewish neighborhood of Portland. He received a scholarship to Yale - that bastion of WASPness - but left after two years. After finding himself in the 1930s as a budding artist; he moved to New York City; and made his way steadily up the art world ladder into acceptance; and eventually some wealth.But Mark Rothko was a contrarian; too. He accepted a commission to provide art for the new Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building; but pulled out and returned his advance when he visited the restaurant. He disliked the clientele; the menu; the ambiance; and; hell; the WEALTH of the place. Several panels of the art he had made were placed in Houston in the Rothko Chapel; built by the Menil family. His post-war years were his most fruitful but his persona began to change. He separated from his wife and two children in the late 1960s and committed suicide in 1970. His fame and his work have long outlived him.Annie Cohen-Solal returns; in the end; to the city in Latvia he and his family had left more than 100 years before. His children opened a museum dedicated to Marcus Rothkowitz. He - and his art - had come full circle.