Originally presented as the author's thesis (master's)--Ruhr-Universität, Bochum. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-143).

This master’s thesis deals with the reception of Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader (1997, original Der Vorleser 1995) in North America and its role in the North American Holocaust discourse. Two questions dominate the investigation: How does The Reader reflect elements of the North American Holocaust discourse, and how does the novel contribute to this discourse? Two focal points govern this investigation. First, the North American Holocaust discourse is portrayed by means of a historical-cultural analysis of relevant literature, cinema and public events in order to understand the 'Americanization of the Holocaust,' that is how the Holocaust became an important part of American public intellectual discourse. Especially important here are The Diary of Anne Frank, the Eichmann trial and Hannah Arendt’s reportage of it, the TV-miniseries Holocaust, Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Norman Finkelstein’s treatise Holocaust Industry. Second, the reception of Schlink’s The Reader in North American newspapers and magazines as well as in academic reviews and articles is discussed in order to show that this German novel is part of the discussion in North America. In the general public discourse the novel received mostly positive reviews, whereas in the academic discourse more critical observations were made. The resulting difference in reception stems from perspective, that is whether the novel is understood as a story about human fate or as a story about Germany’s past. The thesis concludes by synthesizing these two parts to demonstrate the interaction between Bernhard Schlink’s novel and the North American Holocaust discourse. It is shown that The Reader reflects elements of the North American Holocaust discourse, like Hannah Arendt’s thesis on the “banality of evil,” the question of how to deal with the Holocaust (film versus literature), and whether the Holocaust is part of the American discourse. Furthermore, the novel also contributes to the North American Holocaust discourse: on the one hand, The Reader follows the American discourse by giving another story and leading to a further popularisation of the Holocaust; on the other hand, the novel adds something new to the discourse, namely an individual view of perpetrators and a differentiated way of dealing with them.

This master’s thesis deals with the reception of Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader (1997, original Der Vorleser 1995) in North America and its role in the North American Holocaust discourse. Two questions dominate the investigation: How does The Reader reflect elements of the North American Holocaust discourse, and how does the novel contribute to this discourse? Two focal points govern this investigation. First, the North American Holocaust discourse is portrayed by means of a historical-cultural analysis of relevant literature, cinema and public events in order to understand the 'Americanization of the Holocaust,' that is how the Holocaust became an important part of American public intellectual discourse. Especially important here are The Diary of Anne Frank, the Eichmann trial and Hannah Arendt’s reportage of it, the TV-miniseries Holocaust, Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Norman Finkelstein’s treatise Holocaust Industry. Second, the reception of Schlink’s The Reader in North American newspapers and magazines as well as in academic reviews and articles is discussed in order to show that this German novel is part of the discussion in North America. In the general public discourse the novel received mostly positive reviews, whereas in the academic discourse more critical observations were made. The resulting difference in reception stems from perspective, that is whether the novel is understood as a story about human fate or as a story about Germany’s past. The thesis concludes by synthesizing these two parts to demonstrate the interaction between Bernhard Schlink’s novel and the North American Holocaust discourse. It is shown that The Reader reflects elements of the North American Holocaust discourse, like Hannah Arendt’s thesis on the “banality of evil,” the question of how to deal with the Holocaust (film versus literature), and whether the Holocaust is part of the American discourse. Furthermore, the novel also contributes to the North American Holocaust discourse: on the one hand, The Reader follows the American discourse by giving another story and leading to a further popularisation of the Holocaust; on the other hand, the novel adds something new to the discourse, namely an individual view of perpetrators and a differentiated way of dealing with them.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (master's)--Ruhr-Universität, Bochum. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-143).

This thesis discusses the question of guilt, as it appears on a variety of levels in Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader (1995) and its film adaptation by Stephen Daldry (2009). In general, a review of the question of the collective guilt of the parent- and child-generation will be argued. Several levels of guilt entanglement are witnessed in the main characters Hanna and Michael, from individual guilt towards the other to collective guilt, as it is known from the conflict of the '68 generation with the parental generation. Expressed in the novel mainly by Michael’s reflections, it is brought by audio-visual means into the film. An overview of the debt debate in the legal sense shows to what extent law and justice or moral and legal guilt can be apart. / Diese Arbeit handelt von Bernhard Schlinks 1995 erschienen Roman Der Vorleser und dessen Verfilmung durch Stephen Daldry im Jahre 2009. Untersuchungsgegenstand ist hierbei die Schuldfrage, welche sich vielschichtig im Werk verdeutlicht. Im Allgemeinen wird ein Überblick über die Frage nach der kollektiven Schuld der Eltern- und Kindergeneration gegeben. Übertragen auf die Hauptcharaktere Hanna und Michael lassen sich mehrere Ebenen der Schuldverstrickung feststellen, hin von individueller Schuld dem anderen gegenüber bis zur kollektiven Schuld, wie sie aus dem Konflikt der 68er Generation mit der Elterngeneration bekannt ist. Was sich im Buch vor allem durch die Reflexionen Michaels ausdrückt, wird im Film durch audiovisuelle Mittel zum Ausdruck gebracht. Eine Übersicht über den Schulddiskurs im rechtlichen Sinne zeigt, wie weit Recht und Gerechtigkeit, bzw. moralische und juristische Schuld auseinander liegen können.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanties, English Literature, 2013 / This dissertation functions as an exploration of German author Bernhard Schlink’s engagement with the genre of Vӓterliteratur (Literature about Fathers). By examining how Schlink has used adaptations of this genre in his novels The Reader (1998), Homecoming (2009) and short story Girl with Lizard (2002), this project will attempt to ascertain the extent to which one can view these texts as part of a new wave of father writing that has emerged in the German post-unification space. The question dominating this research project and contained in the first part of the title: “How do I speak about the Past”, implies that part of this research will examine Schlink’s portrayal of the second-generation’s attempt to understand and give voice to their experiences in postwar Germany. As such, my work engages with the emergence of Vӓterliteratur as being the result of an incomplete attempt by second-generation Germans to confront Germany’s national traumatic past during the 1968 Student Movement. However, while Schlink’s work demonstrates a familiarity with the content, structure and themes present in the first wave of Vӓterliteratur he appears to rewrite these into a fictionalised format, demonstrating the continued need in German society to work through the past. In many respects the texts selected for analysis in this dissertation deviate from the traditional conventions found within the earlier father novels, and interestingly appear to emphasise the previously marginalised role of women both during and postwar. What I will demonstrate is that while Schlink’s work makes use of the conventions found in Vӓterliteratur, and by doing so explores the postwar relationships between fathers and sons, it also indirectly engages with the experiences of German women and their own perpetration of, or suffering as a result of the patriarchal attitudes present in, Nazism. Through this dual portrayal (the presence of both men and women) Schlink gives a new perspective to the complexities of German postwar life as seen through the eyes of the second-generation.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Teoria Literária, 2006 / Submitted by Alaíde Gonçalves dos Santos (alaide@unb.br) on 2013-05-28T10:16:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2006_MariaMadalenaRodrigues.pdf: 1649901 bytes, checksum: e953c907fa0211b097dcb431ee872e04 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2013-06-03T14:15:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2006_MariaMadalenaRodrigues.pdf: 1649901 bytes, checksum: e953c907fa0211b097dcb431ee872e04 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-03T14:15:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2006_MariaMadalenaRodrigues.pdf: 1649901 bytes, checksum: e953c907fa0211b097dcb431ee872e04 (MD5) / Esta tese contém a análise do romance O leitor, de Bernhard Schlink, com o qual são confrontadas outras duas narrativas: Eichmann em Jerusalém, de Hannah Arendt e É isto um homem?, de Primo Levi, todas relacionadas à Shoah. Categorias da análise narratológica são empregadas no diálogo entre as obras, permitindo ampliar a compreensão da narrativa ficcional em suas fronteiras com a narrativa histórica e de testemunho. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / This dissertation aims at analysing the novel The reader, by the German writer, Bernhard Schlink, in a comparative approach with two other narratives: Eichmann in Jerusalem, by Hannah Arendt, and Survival in Auschwitz (Se questo è un uomo), by Primo Levi. All three narratives are concerned with the Shoah. Categories from narratology are employed to enable the dialogue among the novel and the two other works, thus allowing a further understanding of fiction in its boundaries with history and testimony

Freie Univ., Diss.--Berlin, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. [285] - 310.