Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Believe it or not, Mann based the character of Tadzio on a real boy he saw while staying in Lido (Venice) at the Grand Hotel des Bains, where Aschenbach also stays in Death in Venice. The boy was the Baron Wladyslaw Moes, who went by the nickname "Adzio." (Source)
Think Gustav von Aschenbach is pure fantasy? Think again. It's well known that Mann based Aschenbach's physical appearance on that of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, who died not long before Mann wrote and published Death in Venice. We guess that's flattering… (Source)
It's also been suggested that Death in Venice is inspired by the life and work of the gay German poet August von Platen-Hallermünde, who died from cholera on an Italian island. (Source)
Nietzsche, who was a big inspiration for Death in Venice, was a big fan of Venice—he even wrote a poem about it and included it in his autobiography, Ecce Homo. (Source)
Cholera is no joke. The last major outbreak in Europe happened just 15 years or so before the publication of Death in Venice. (Source)