Székely's interesting methodology represents a pluralistic approach to literary criticism. He feels that psychoanalytic and Marxian literary criticism are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. In his presentation, he leans heavily on the essays of H. Kohut and G. Lukács. He uses 'exopoetic' dates in order to relate the fate of the hero (Aschenbach) and the fates of the subordinate figures in the novel to the life stories of the brothers, Thomas and Heinrich Mann. Reports of two analytic patients are included to indicate the reactions shown by recipients of a work of art.