Schlink, Bernhard. The Reader [Der Vorleser]

In post-war Germany, fifteen-year-old Michael develops a romantic and sexual relationship with Hanna, who is significantly older. Michael frequently reads to Hanna, until she suddenly dissappears from his life. Years later he sees her again as she is standing trial for her work as an SS guard at a Nazi camp. As a law student, Michael struggles with questions of guilt and responsibility regarding himself, the other members of his post-war generation, their parents’ generation, and Hanna. Her guilt is mitigated by the fact that, as Michael realizes during the trial, she is illiterate. Michael comes to realize his parents are not more responsible for living amongst perpetrators than he is for loving Hanna. In general, the novel was received favourably. It was translated into more than 25 languages and made into a successful film. However, it was also criticized, mainly in Germany, for taking away Hanna’s (and thus German) culpability, for largely ignoring the victim perspective, and for trivializing the Holocaust. The novel remains a key text for Holocaust and perpetrator studies.

Schlink, Bernard. The Reader. Translated by Carol Brown Janeway. London: Phoenix, 1997.