Death in Venice

Death in Venice and Other Stories is a coolection of short stories by Thomas Mann - the title story has been made into a well known film.

In the title story an ageing writer has a holiday in Venice and becomes fixated with a boy staying in his hotel. He then can't drag himself away, despite the fact that his deteriorating health requires it. It's a fascinating look at the way we make choices and how our emotions can overrule our best interests.

A couple of the other stories are very short, essentially just describing a rant by the main character. The rest have much in common between them, presumably because they are largely autobiographical. The main character has a strict father and a doting mother (usually foreign) who dies when he is young. When his father dies the family business is sold off giving enough capital to live without a steady income, so he devotes himself to art. So it's not really the plot of the stories which is important, rather they serve as a vehicle for a look at the life of the artist in society and in particular how much an artist should cut himself off from those around him.