The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 20

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Kindly Ones with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, the gripping and graphic story of Max Aue, an SS officer during World War II, who is forced to bear the weight of the atrocities he has contributed to, his increasingly incestuous fantasies and even the fact that he is wanted for murder. Despite being the subject of widespread scandal and mixed critical and public opinion, the novel received two prestigious French literary prizes after it was published, including the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie Française. Littell is a French-American author with a Jewish background, who became known following the publication of this work, which also received the 2009 British Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
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Leseprobe

Jonathan Littell

Franco-American writer

Born in New York in 1967Notable works:The Kindly Ones (2006), novelLe Sec et l’Humide (2008), novelRécit sur rien (2009), novel

Jonathan Littell was born in New York in 1967 to a Jewish family of Polish origin. After living in France for a long time, where he took his baccalauréat in 1985, he went to Yale University and graduated in art and literature. Following this, he travelled extensively, notably to the Balkans, Afghanistan and Africa. He had been haunted by the atrocities of the Holocaust and World War II since his childhood, and began writing his first novel, The Kindly Ones, in 2001. The novel was published in 2006 and, despite being highly controversial, was awarded the Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française (two of the most prestigious literary awards in France).

The Kindly Ones

A book shrouded in scandal

Genre: novelReference edition: Littell, J. (2010) The Kindly Ones. Trans. Mandell, C. London: Vintage.First edition: 2006Themes: World War II, Nazism, Holocaust, sexuality, fantasy, death

The event of the 2006 French literary season, The Kindly Ones was the subject of a somewhat aggressive promotional campaign and a hint of scandal, which both contributed significantly to its success. Recounting the fictitious memoirs of a former SS officer during World War II, the novel is unique in that it presents the atrocities of the war from the viewpoint of the tormentors. The Kindly Ones is a novel with abundant cultural references and many analyses of the work have been made. Although widely criticised, notably on account of its allegedly crude and barbaric style or its documentary aspect, it has also received praise.

Summary

The story begins in 1941. SS Lieutenant (Obersturmführer) Max Aue is in Ukraine with an army whose mission is to eliminate anything that is potentially dangerous behind the front lines. In reality, the army’s main targets are Jewish communities, who are routinely shot in the forests. On 10 October, his birthday, Aue is promoted. At the end of the year, he is sent to a sanatorium in Crimea to rest.