02Jan25d Book review (Tom)

Book review: by Steven Poole in The Guardian

The Real Tadzio, By Gilbert Adair Short Books, London, 4.99

This is a book about Death In Venice, among many other things. Near the beginning Adair points out: Virtually everything experienced by Gustav von Aschenbach in the novella, short of his premature death on the beach, had first happened to the author. He proceeds to relate the hitherto obscure life of the authors model for the beautiful boy Tadzio, actually a Pole named Wladyslaw Moes, who was to spend the second world war in a German PoW camp, eventually being powerfully reminded of that far-off holiday when he saw Viscontis film

[Snipped. The rest of the review basically says Adair is a superb critic and the book is excellent. Tom]