until significance is achieved

"Yet nothing would seem to dull a deft and noble intellect more swiftly, more surely than the sharp and bitter stimulant of erudition."

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, p.19

Yesterday, my mum bought Death in Venice for one of her coworker's nephews. I couldn't let it leave my house without reading it, especially when I saw that it was a new translation.



Death in Venice was written by Thomas Mann just prior to WWI. It was originally published in German and translated to English in 1930 by Lowe-Porter. Until Heim's translation in 2004, this Lowe-Porter translation was the only one available on the market.

All of this is according to the wonderful introduction written in my copy of Heim's translation. Micheal Cunningham, of The Hours, writes about translation and the pitfalls and perils of doing such work. I can't seem to find a copy on the Internet to c&p here :( So I guess I'll have to type it up later myself to share with everyone.

It's similar to the story of Lolita in the sense that there is an older man (a classy, erudite man) in love with a child, but the similarities pretty much end there. Mostly, it's about a man dealing with his age and how much he has and hasn't accomplished in his lifetime and kind of muddled up in his desire for a beautiful young Polish boy. It's kind of creepy, but I felt great sympathy for Gustav von Aschenbach, our antihero. Then again, I thought Humbert Humbert was perfectly charming and Aschenbach was hardly the lecher Humber was.

Aschenbach was more allegorical in his admiration for Tadzio. He pretty much listed every young boy beloved by an older man in the Greek myths.

I was torn between horrified fascination and my embarrassment squick. Cunningham wrote that Heim's translation is already more sympathetic to Aschenbach, even elevating his situation to levels of noble tragedy, so I cannot imagine reading the Lowe-Porter version where Aschenbach is supposedly a more pitiable clown. Agh.

It's pretty short; the copy I read was around 140+ pages only. I read it on the bus, to and fro from my tutorial. But it isn't a quick read at all, both bus rides were about an hour long apiece. The prose obviously comes from the early 1900s.
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I bought myself a new copy of Scott Pilgrim #3 since my first copy has been with a former blockmate of mine since 2007 and I have given up on asking for it back. So my SP's are complete once more and ready for serious re-reading concomitantly with writing my submission to [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]. I haven't started it yet because I'd like to finish my first draft of my thesis proposal first. But I've got a decent sense of what I want to do with my 15000+ words.

15000+ words. God bless me, I've never written anything longer than 12000. I realize that that is nothing in comparison to some fanfiction writers' works but by gum, it is a challenge for me.

Also got myself a cheap movie release copy of the "Slumdog Millionaire" book today. It came out to around $5, not bad. I'm going to read it with the movie OST, just to set the mood properly. I really want to read the book before I see the movie.

Speaking of movies, as I was walking to my tutorial today, I passed through Power Plant mall and I saw a HUGE poster for Watchmen plastered beside the glass doors going in and out of the mall. I can't believe it's already coming out this Friday! I remember when we were all just hearing that it had been optioned and wondering if would even start filming. It seems so far away now. LOL

Currently waiting for BH 6 to finish downloading. Can't wait to see this season finale!

I'm also trying to figure out how one would sing "End" by the Cure if done with an acoustic guitar. It is pretty hard to figure out!

ALSO ALSO: [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] I got your BEAUTIFUL postcard. I love it! :D Thank you!