Nicholas Emery
Professor Garmann
Freshman Year Seminar 110-02
October 31, 2017
Is Aschenbach a Genius Aschenbach lived his life as a very disciplined and hardworking writer who had written great works and was quite well renowned and often considered to be a literary genius. Early in the novella, Aschenbach begins to look for a way to escape his disciplined, dedicated life, and his literary fame many only dream of. Aschenbach's interaction with a weird man near a local graveyard is what leads him to want to escape his current state of affairs along with his burnout from writing, so off he travels and he eventually ends up in Venice, Italy. Venice initially makes Aschenbach feel uneasy the weather is far from optimal and he feels more oppressed …show more content…
Once Aschenbach arrives in Venice the habitual, serious man from Munich quickly fades and becomes the rash free-spirited man he possibly longed to be. This change is brought about by Tadzio the Polish boy Aschenbach obsesses over and how he does everything he can to be noticed by the boy. Ultimately this change is what leads to the question of Aschenbach's genius. While Aschenbach created great works of literature he is not a genius but simply a hard worker and through all of his hard work became a great …show more content…
Emotion and reason are enemies in Aschenbach's world as his lifelong prioritization of the intellect and suppression of passions gave way to a malaise towards his work, and he thought the best way to solve this was to estrange himself from his usual routine. This new strange freedom gave way only to a disastrous role reversal for Aschenbach as he dismissed his usual structure and discipline, leaving the scale of reason and emotion still unbalanced the only difference being that now Aschenbach was on the other side of the scale. The fate of Aschenbach proves the necessity of yin and yang in relation to reason and emotion one cannot exist without the other there must be a harmony between emotion and
Professor Garmann
Freshman Year Seminar 110-02
October 31, 2017
Is Aschenbach a Genius Aschenbach lived his life as a very disciplined and hardworking writer who had written great works and was quite well renowned and often considered to be a literary genius. Early in the novella, Aschenbach begins to look for a way to escape his disciplined, dedicated life, and his literary fame many only dream of. Aschenbach's interaction with a weird man near a local graveyard is what leads him to want to escape his current state of affairs along with his burnout from writing, so off he travels and he eventually ends up in Venice, Italy. Venice initially makes Aschenbach feel uneasy the weather is far from optimal and he feels more oppressed …show more content…
Once Aschenbach arrives in Venice the habitual, serious man from Munich quickly fades and becomes the rash free-spirited man he possibly longed to be. This change is brought about by Tadzio the Polish boy Aschenbach obsesses over and how he does everything he can to be noticed by the boy. Ultimately this change is what leads to the question of Aschenbach's genius. While Aschenbach created great works of literature he is not a genius but simply a hard worker and through all of his hard work became a great …show more content…
Emotion and reason are enemies in Aschenbach's world as his lifelong prioritization of the intellect and suppression of passions gave way to a malaise towards his work, and he thought the best way to solve this was to estrange himself from his usual routine. This new strange freedom gave way only to a disastrous role reversal for Aschenbach as he dismissed his usual structure and discipline, leaving the scale of reason and emotion still unbalanced the only difference being that now Aschenbach was on the other side of the scale. The fate of Aschenbach proves the necessity of yin and yang in relation to reason and emotion one cannot exist without the other there must be a harmony between emotion and