Dual Enlightenments in Bernhard Schlink’s Novel The Reader

Abstract

Bernhard Schlink (1944— ) is a famous German jurist and novelist in the twentieth century. He has been engaged in the study of law for a long time, and his works feature in detective stories. The research text of this thesis, The Reader, is a representative work of German novels in the late twentieth century, and its English version is selected in this thesis. This thesis is based on the analysis of the history, human nature and morality in the Second World War (as the WWII), and interprets the interaction between Michael and Hanna about the dual enlightenments of love and knowledge. Then, this thesis explores the spiritual redemption obtained by two protagonists in reading, and deeply analyzes the trauma caused by the war to the two generations, as well as the social reflection of the postwar German youth on their elder generation’s behaviors in the war.

In order to achieve the above research purposes, this thesis is divided into four chapters: the first chapter illustrates the enlightenment of love and Michael’s family regression in his “abnormal love” from the perspective of historical background; the second chapter analyzes the enlightenment of knowledge that Michael gives Hanna according to social background; the third chapter investigates the interaction of the dual enlightenments between the two protagonists; the fourth chapter explores the postwar German youth’s reflection on their parents’ behaviors in the war. Therefore, the analysis of the “dual enlightenments” is the key to understand the novel. Through the dual enlightenments, Bernhard Schlink describes the interaction between the hero and heroine representing two generations, and deeply demonstrates the spiritual trauma and salvation brought by the WWII. In addition, Schlink effectively inspired the postwar German youth to reflect social history through this novel.

Key words: Bernhard Schlink; The Reader; enlightenment; redemption; social reflection