Thomas Mann: which book should you start with?

Tonio Kröger, son of a respected family in Lübeck, grows up feeling different. He admires his schoolfellow Hans Hansen, blond and sure of himself, then falls in love with blonde Inge, who does not notice him. Once he becomes a writer, he feels at home neither among artists nor among the “normal” people he secretly envies. Thomas Mann put a great deal of himself into it: it is a book for everyone who has ever felt like an outsider. This short story reads well in the language you are learning, with the translation always in view.

Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous ageing writer worn out by work, goes to Venice to rest. In his grand hotel on the Lido, he is fascinated by a young Polish boy, Tadzio, whose beauty seems perfect to him. Meanwhile, an epidemic is secretly spreading through the city. This short novel is about the fascination of beauty, and about a very self-controlled man who little by little loses all control. It is one of the most famous stories of the twentieth century. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this masterpiece in the language you are learning.