Death in Venice and Other Stories

Death in Venice (German: Der Tod in Venedig) is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Polish tourist, Tadzio, so nicknamed for Tadeusz. Tadzio was based on a real person named Władzio whom Mann had observed during his 1911 visit to the city, but the story itself was fictional.