By the time Thomas Mann’s longer work Buddenbrooks finally established his fame, he had already been a published author of short fiction, primarily in the satirical magazine Simplicissimus .

A typical Mann short story always has some element of psychological disquiet. Earlier in his career this often manifested in his stories as behaviors that caused the protagonists to endure ridicule (“Little Louise,” “The Path to the Cemetery”), but this evolved into entire characters who combine extra-societal behavior with a seeming inability to halt their descent into chaos (“Death in Venice,” “Mario and the Magician”). Woven through this are common themes: the secret world of children, the social mores of Wilhelmine Germany, and a love of dogs.

This collection includes many of Mann’s best known works. Particularly famous is “Death in Venice,” the candidly autobiographical story of a staid author’s obsession with a beautiful boy, which the Encyclopædia Britannica included in its Great Books of the Western World set.