In addition to Death in Venice, this volume includes 'Mario and the Magician', 'Disorder and Early Sorrow', 'A Man and His Dog', 'Felix Krull', 'The Blood of the Walsungs', 'Tristan', and 'Tonio Kroger'. These stories, as direct as Thomas Mann's novels are complex, are perfect illustrations of their author's belief that 'a story must tell itself.' Varying in theme, in style, in tone, each is in its own way characteristic of Mann's prodigious talents.