Eine deutsche ‚Schicksalsgemeinschaft‘ im Spiegel ihrer Namen: Studie zu Bernhard Schlinks Roman Der Vorleser

Abstract

School student Michael Berg (15) becomes involved in an erotic relationship with Hanna Schmitz (36), to whom he reads from works of literature during their lovers’ trysts. Hanna constantly calls Michael mein Jungchen (‚my young laddie‘), while the latter addresses her not just as Hanna but also using pet names such as Boukeffelchen (Alexander the Great’s tempestuous war horse was called Boukephalos). Years later Michael recognizes Hanna among the accused in a concentration camp trial. When she falsely assumes responsibility for the authorship of a report on the death of a group of concentration camp prisoners, Michael realizes that Hanna would rather accept a long prison sentence than admit to her illiteracy. The name Michael Berg reminds us of locations around Heidelberg (e.g. Michelsberg); Berg also alludes to the hill as a location of insights and to Michael’s complicated Schicksalsgemeinschaft with a concentration camp guard. While the simplified name Hanna evokes childishness and motherliness, Schmitz recalls the hissing of the horsewhip used by many concentration camp supervisors. Hanna also readily evokes the name Hannah Arendt, while Schmitz is a common, everyday surname whose occurrence is reminiscent of A Report on the Banality of Evil, the subtitle of Hannah Arendt’s book Eichmann in Jerusalem.