베른하르트 슐링크의 『책 읽어주는 남자』와 스티븐 달드리 감독의 영화 <책 읽어주는 남자> 비교분석 = A Comparative Study on Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser and Stephen Daldry’s The Reader

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This research aims to compare Bernhard Schlink’s award-winning novel Der Vorleser (1995) and Stephen Daldry’s film The Reader (2008). Der Vorleser sets out to explore the conflict and shame of second generation Germans who had to confront the sins of Nazi fathers. Hence we can read the novel as a metaphor describing the relation between 68 generation and the parents generation. Born in 1944, Michael emerges as a virtual spokesman for his entire generation while Hanna evolves into a prototype of the parent’s generation.
This research explores the difference between narrative, point of view, space, image, and characters in the novel and the film. The screenplay is mainly based on the plot of the novel, showing a good example of faithful adaptation. The novel provides a subtler, richer fictional account for Michael’s deep psychology and multiple themes than the film. The emotional centre of this novel is Michael’s shame, numbness and ever-lasting longing for Hanna. The central space both in the novel and the film is Hanna’s house. In the novel the constant sound of electric saw coming from the yard of Hanna’s house definitely hints at Auschwitz, thus reminiscent of her crime as a camp guard. The film misses the subtle meaning of the electric saw.
Both the novel and the film exploit water image. The use of water image clearly intends to suggest a ritual of sin and redemption. The film mostly uses it in the opening sequence when describing rain, water basket, water faucet and the shower scenes. The film pursues a dominant color, blue-gray to describe the clothing, streets, concentration camp scenes, and the prison where Hanna is imprisoned. The color visualizes the dreary world of silence and death surrounding the postwar generation.
The characters in the novel and the film center on several key questions: the nature of the relationship between Michael and Hanna, Michael’s reaction to Hanna’s crime, and her illiteracy. It is noteworthy that the film’s character description of Hanna Schmitz is different from that of the novel. The novel describes her both as a perpetrator and as a victim while the film is more concerned to establish Hanna as a victim than as a perpetrator. In the novel Hanna’s Holocaust atrocities are suggested by her use of leather belt during the bicycle trip. The film dismisses the violent scene to replace it with the scene of church choir in which Hanna, deeply moved, cries. The film also shows a distorting image of Hanna. She is shown as a double ‘scapegoat’, manipulated both by her co-defendants and by the Third Republic. Thus, the film invites us to sympathize with Hanna because her behaviour is inevitable under the circumstance.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 이홍경, "트라우마를 남긴 사랑-베른하르트 슐링크의 『책 읽어주는 남자』의 정신분석학적 고찰" 한국독어독문학회 46 (46): 124-143, 2005

2 슐링크, 베른하르트, "책 읽어주는 남자" 세계사 1999

3 김임구, "신시대사 연구와 문학비평의 새로운 지평—B. Schlink의 소설 『책 읽어주는 남자』를 중심으로" 80 : 264-290, 2001

4 이희영, "독일 ‘68세대’와 과거극복:나치과거에 대한 세대경험의 연속성과 단절에 대하여" 한국사회학회 40 (40): 32-61, 2006

5 Metz, Joseph, "“Truth Is a Woman”: Post-Holocaust Narrative, Postmodernism, and the Gender of Fascism in Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser" 77 (77): 300-323, 2004

6 Mahlendorf, Ursula, "Trauma Narrated, Read and (Mis)understood: Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader: “...Irrevocably Complicit in Their Crimes.." 95 (95): 458-481, 2003

7 Ozick, Cynthia, "The Rights of Fiction and the Rights of Imagination" 107 (107): 22-27, 1999

8 Hall, Katharina, "The Author, The Novel, The Reader and The Perils of “Neue Lesbarkeit”: A Comparative Analysis of Bernhard Schlink’s Selbs Justiz and Der Vorleser" 59 (59): 446-467, 2002

9 Busse, Kristina, "Imagining Auschwitz: Postmodern Representations of the Holocaust" 미국 툴레인대학(Tulane University) 2002

10 Kilb, Andreas, "Im Gespräch: Bernhard Schlink: Herr Schlink, ist “Der Vorleser” Geschichte?"

11 Donahue, William Collins, "Illusions of Subtlety: Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser and The Moral Limits of Holocaust Fiction" 54 (54): 60-81, 2001

12 Brice, James Stuart, "German Holocaust Literature: Trends and Tendencies" 독일 콘스탄쯔대학(Universität Konstanz) 2006

13 Niven, Bill, "Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser and the Problem of Shame" 98 (98): 381-396, 2003

14 Reynolds, Daniel, "A Portrait of Misleading: Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser" 39 (39): 238-256, 2003