Hôtel des Bains
Grand hotel on the Lido di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death in Venice | Thomas Mann | setting | Aschenbach’s hotel and home base on the Lido. |
Death in Venice — Thomas Mann (1912)
Source: Death in Venice · Readwise highlight
He gave instructions for his luggage to be taken to the Hôtel des Bains and followed the cart along the avenue, the white-blossoming tree-lined avenue which, flanked by taverns, bazaars, and boardinghouses, ran straight across the island to the beach.
- Role: setting
- In the book: Aschenbach has his luggage sent to the Hôtel des Bains, is shown to a room with a view of the open sea, and first sees Tadzio in the hotel. After his attempted flight he returns to the same hotel when his trunk is misrouted, and he leaves it for the last time on the morning of his death.
- Why it matters: The hotel is the novella’s home base: the lost-luggage reversal, his daily routine and the final departure all hinge on it. Elsewhere there would be no beach, no cabana and no Tadzio at the next table.
- Real vs. fictional: Real hotel on the Lido, named in the text.