Loretto Rey answers “Is the boy really 14?? is this book about...”

Max asked this question about Death in Venice:

Is the boy really 14?? is this book about a pedophile??

Loretto Rey I read that Mann wrote Death in Venice because he himself went to Venice, and saw a "beautiful" boy (who Mann thought was 14 years old, but was actual…moreI read that Mann wrote Death in Venice because he himself went to Venice, and saw a "beautiful" boy (who Mann thought was 14 years old, but was actually 10 years old), and became obsessed with him, apparently his wife talked about this. The boy's name was Fadzio an he even got to talked about the novel years later when he grew up.
Don't worry nothing happened to the boy, Mann never talked with him or anything, but he was definitely obsessed with him if he got to remember multiple times about Fadzio (his nationality, his appearance, details about his family and about what he was wearing).
I don't know how much is gossip and how much is true.
People will say that the novel is ambiguous and to certain point it is, but why would you leave sexual attraction as one of the interpretations?Specially if is true that he wrote a novel based on a real child that he got obsessed with.

And no, idiots, no one is saying that dead people/fictional characters should go to jail, its just about what the novel is trying to say.(less)

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