I found this interesting introduction about Greek pederasty. Before tomorrow’s discussion about whether Aschenbach’s love of Tadzio is that of an artist or a pedophile, I thought it would be a good start to read about the origin of today’s so-called pedophilia/homosexuality. The video below is the story of Ganymede, who is often used as a symbol of beautiful male youth who attracts homosexual desire.
Both of these documents (the webpage and the video) are rhetorically really interesting. Strikes me that Mann was writing at a really unique historical moment when modern gay identity was emergent but he (and his character) are a little conflicted trying to account for it. Though I also don’t think we have to make a biographical turn to make sense of the novella.
More today in class.