TY - JOUR
T1 - The art of "reading-to" and the post-Holocaust suicide in Schlink's the reader
AU - Lackey, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Johns Hopkins University Press.
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - In Bernhard Schlink's The Reader, former Nazi perpetrator Hanna Schmitz commits suicide, and scholars have not yet answered the question why. When Michael visits Hanna's cell after her death, he notices books on her shelf by Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, Tadeusz Borowski, Jean Améry, Rudolf Höss, and Hannah Arendt. By citing works from these authors, I argue that Hanna kills herself because she discovers that Michael has become what she once was. I also demonstrate that through her suicide, Hanna fulfills a major demand found in the works of Améry, and by fulfilling that demand, Améry and Hanna are united.
AB - In Bernhard Schlink's The Reader, former Nazi perpetrator Hanna Schmitz commits suicide, and scholars have not yet answered the question why. When Michael visits Hanna's cell after her death, he notices books on her shelf by Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, Tadeusz Borowski, Jean Améry, Rudolf Höss, and Hannah Arendt. By citing works from these authors, I argue that Hanna kills herself because she discovers that Michael has become what she once was. I also demonstrate that through her suicide, Hanna fulfills a major demand found in the works of Améry, and by fulfilling that demand, Améry and Hanna are united.
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U2 - 10.1353/phl.2018.0008
DO - 10.1353/phl.2018.0008
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85047318500
SN - 0190-0013
VL - 42
SP - 145
EP - 164
JO - Philosophy and Literature
JF - Philosophy and Literature
IS - 1
ER -