Abstract
On account of the manner in which he loves, the modern artist as conceived in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf, comes to realize that in order to produce art that is true to the soul of its creator, he must transcend or transgress the moral boundaries of literary conventions as well as society; he must be not only an artist, but also a philosopher, bound only by his dedication to love and truth. In these two novels, Mann and Hesse explore the nature of art as it relates to the soul, beauty, and love. Mirroring the challenges of the Platonic idea of love and art, as they are discussed in the Phaedrus and the Symposium, two heroes embark upon journeys of self-discovery and a renewal of the hunger for life that should never be lost to begin with.