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

Résumé

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.