Throughout the novella, Death in Venice, Mann tells of the infatuation of the greatly respected, although ageing Gustav von Aschenbach for a young polish boy, Tadzio, who appears to von Aschenbach as the epitome of perfection. The novella was written by a method that was termed, by Mann, "myth plus psychology" because, to all intents and purposes, it mixes the two elements equally. Although it could be appropriate to describe von Aschenbach a paedophile in any other circumstances, Mann uses classical and divine references to give the infatuation a level of class that it could not otherwise have had. Right from the beginning there is the constant discussion about `order' and `chaos', already linking to Nietzsche's theory of a balance between the Apollonian (order) and the Dionysian (chaos).

The constant referencing to ancient mythology often appears as a part of the characters that appear to have little or...