THE ARTIST BETWEEN APOLLONIAN AND DIONYSIAN PRINCIPLE - THOMAS MANN’S DEATH IN VENICE (Umjetnik između apolinijskog i dionizijskog principa – Smrt u Veneciji Tomasa Mana)

Abstract

The intention of this work is to examine the profile of Mann’s protagonist as one of the typical literary representations of artist, from the aspect of Nietzsche’s concept of Appollonian and Dionysian taking closer look at complex relation of motives of love, beauty and death within the life that is inseparable from an artistic existence. Gustav von Aschenbach, a writer of firm will, rationality and conscious principles, on his final journey to Venice, transcends borders and does something like an ancient hubris, yielding to Dionysian intoxication and seduction. This kind of duality within his character is the starting point for our interpretation. The analysis intents to show how the encounter with a Polish boy affects Aschenbach’s life and art, how the writer reacts in contact with beauty, and how this causes the release of his true Dionysian nature. The Venetian chronotope and unusual carnival atmosphere also influence changes in Ashenbach’s behavior, so that in a different environment, which activates the Dionysian element of his being, his character is necessarily transformed. Aschenbach’s art, as ambivalent as his life, exists between the Apollinian and Dionysian elements that constantly condition and supplement each other. Keywords: Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, Apollinian, Dionysian, art, beauty, death, Venice.