Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2018
Publication Title
Philosophy and Literature
Abstract
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.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Volume
42
Issue
1
First Page
145
Last Page
164
DOI
10.1353/phl.2018.0008
ISSN
1086-329X
Rights
©2018 Johns Hopkins University Press
Recommended Citation
Lackey, Michael. 2018. "The Art of 'Reading-To' and the Post-Holocaust Suicide in Schlink's The Reader." Philosophy and Literature 42.1:145-164.
Primo Type
Article
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by John Hopkins University Press in Philosophy and Literature in April 2018, available online: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/695386