by Jonathan Litell
It was a bestseller in various countries and praised by many critics as unique and shocking read. A further interesting aspect is, that Litell is an American who writes in French. In German it is a 1300 page novel. Since I bought it as paperback, a perfect holiday book for the backpack. I read it on my trip through Madagascar.
The central theme is the holocaust, but written from the perspective of an SS-man, this figure is fictitious and called Aue, who meets many well-known figures in some of the most emblematic events during the war. It starts with the massacres in Babi-Jar and Lublin of the SS-Einsatzgruppen, the battle of Stalingrad, the raise of the concentration camps as pure extermination places. Between the historical figures are Himmler, Eichmann, and Höß.
Aue is not particularly cruel, he is actually disgusted to kill innocent people. But he thinks it is necessary for the greater goal. He is rather an observer, writes reports, and finally directly kills as well. It is an exercise how ordinary people become murderers. While the thought experiment sounds brilliant, with hundreds of pages it became pretty tedious to read in same passages, only the Germans are depicted in their individually, the suffering of the Jews appears collective. That made me question the approach. I was riding on emotional waves, ups and downs, between I like it and I am annoyed.
The incest story, his homoerotic practices, his not so ordinary sexual dreams, and the allusion of Greek names roots the novel in the classical Greek mythology and drama.
The central theme is the holocaust, but written from the perspective of an SS-man, this figure is fictitious and called Aue, who meets many well-known figures in some of the most emblematic events during the war. It starts with the massacres in Babi-Jar and Lublin of the SS-Einsatzgruppen, the battle of Stalingrad, the raise of the concentration camps as pure extermination places. Between the historical figures are Himmler, Eichmann, and Höß.
Aue is not particularly cruel, he is actually disgusted to kill innocent people. But he thinks it is necessary for the greater goal. He is rather an observer, writes reports, and finally directly kills as well. It is an exercise how ordinary people become murderers. While the thought experiment sounds brilliant, with hundreds of pages it became pretty tedious to read in same passages, only the Germans are depicted in their individually, the suffering of the Jews appears collective. That made me question the approach. I was riding on emotional waves, ups and downs, between I like it and I am annoyed.
The incest story, his homoerotic practices, his not so ordinary sexual dreams, and the allusion of Greek names roots the novel in the classical Greek mythology and drama.
Facts:
English title: The Kindly Ones
Original title: Les bienveillantes
Published: 2006
