Artist in Thomas Manns Writings
Central to the writings of many writers and philosophers is the nature of the artist and his relation to the reality in which he/she creates art. ... The artist’s personal motivations in creating art, the experiences on which he/she bases personal motivations, and the societal backdrop in which the artist is living all deeply influence the nature of the art flowing from the artist. ... These three voices make the largest impact on Thomas Mann’s writings. Schiller put forth the philosophy of the naïve versus the sentimental artist. The naïve artist is an artist who functions solely on his/her own internal feelings towards the world. The basis of his reality from which the naïve artist draws inspiration is found in the rush of emotion one experiences in everyday life. The sentimental artist is one who produces art outside of his/her own emotions. ... This basic psychological idea plays an extremely pivotal role in the novella Death in Venice and the short story “Little Lizzy,” both by Thomas Mann. ... Mann attempts in his writings to create a melting pot of these two similar philosophies by morphing the mythological and the psychological together to form the basis of his own philosophy. The Naïve and Dionysian Artist To show how these sets of ideas influenced Mann and how he tries to bring about a literary mirror to reflect them back to us, we must look at the artist in his stories. ... Laütner, as one can see from the definition set down by Nietzsche, is the incarnation of the Dionysian artist, the man devoted to his own pleasures and gaiety. ... However, while Laütner may be our incarnation of the naïve artist, he will play a pivotal role in the elucidating of Mann’s true intentions in telling Jacoby’s and Laütner’s story. The Sentimental and Apollonian Artist When we first meet Gustav von Aschenbach at the beginning of Death in Venice, he is leaving his home to go for a walk in his native Venice. ... This first description of the protagonist of Death in Venice shows us that Aschenbach is the sentimental and Apollonian artist. First off, he is a German writer, a type of man on which Nietzsche bases his own personification of the Apollonian artist. ... His coldly intellectual style is what makes him the perfect artist, free from the dangers of raging emotion. ... As Laütner leaves the realm of the naïve artist for the sentimental, Aschenbach leaves the confines of his Apollonian Northern Europe to the sensually Dionysian city of Venice. ... He is no longer the repressive Apollonian artist, the cold intellectual.