朗读者 (1995)

《朗读者》（德语：Der Vorleser、英语：The Reader）是德国法律教授和法官本哈德·施林克于1995年撰写的小说。本书是第一本登上《纽约时报》畅销榜的德语书籍。本书1995年在德国出版，1997年由卡露·布朗·珍妮维（Carol Brown Janeway）所翻译的英语版本于美国发行。

2008年电影《生死朗读》即根据本书改编。

这个故事是个类比, 比喻德国二战后的世代在理解犹太人大屠杀所面临的困境。露丝·富兰克林写道：这本书特别针对的世代是贝托尔特·布莱希特所称的“后人”(德语：Nachgeborenen)。

《朗读者》一书是属于“反思历史”的文类，“反思历史”这类作品主要内容都是关于面对过去时所面临的矛盾与挣扎。《朗读者》探讨战后的世代该如何面对战争时期参与或目睹各种暴行的世代。随着二战时期的受害者以及目击者的消亡，那些血淋淋的记忆也渐渐淡去，因此20世纪末及21世纪初，犹太人大屠杀的文学作品越发探讨这类的问题。

《朗读者》在各地广受好评，荣获许多奖项。德国《明镜》周刊评论此书堪称继君特·格拉斯的《铁皮鼓》后最为成功的德国文学作品。《朗读者》在德国热销50万册，并在2007年的一次电视民调上，被德国读者选为百名榜上最喜爱的书籍当中的第14名。此书在1998年荣获德国的文学奖 Hans Fallada Prize，也成为史上第一部荣登纽约时报畅销榜的德国文学。

The Reader (German: Der Vorleser) is a novel by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, published in 1995. The story is a parable dealing with the difficulties post-war German generations have had comprehending the Holocaust; Ruth Franklin writes that it was aimed specifically at the generation Bertolt Brecht called the Nachgeborenen (those who came after). Like other novels in the genre of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (the struggle to come to terms with the past), The Reader explores how the post-war generations should approach the generation that took part in, or witnessed, the atrocities. These are the questions at the heart of Holocaust literature in the late 20th and early 21st century, as the victims and witnesses died and living memory was fading.

Schlink's book was well received in his native country and elsewhere, winning several awards; Der Spiegel wrote that it was one of the greatest triumphs of German literature since Günter Grass's The Tin Drum (1959). It sold 500,000 copies in Germany and was listed 14th of the 100 favorite books of German readers in a television poll in 2007. It won the German Hans Fallada Prize in 1998, and became the first German book to top The New York Times bestselling books list. It has been translated into 45 different languages, and has been included in the curricula of college-level courses in Holocaust literature and German language and German literature.

The Reader was adapted by David Hare into the 2008 film of the same name directed by Stephen Daldry; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, with Kate Winslet winning for her portrayal of Hanna Schmitz.

Synopsis

Characters

Michael Berg, a German man who is first portrayed as a 15-year-old boy and is revisited at later parts of his life; notably, when he is a researcher in legal history, divorced with one daughter, Julia. Like many of his generation, he struggles to come to terms with his country's recent history.

Hanna Schmitz, a former guard at Auschwitz. She is 36, illiterate and working as a tram conductor in Neustadt when she first meets 15-year-old Michael. She takes a dominant position in their relationship.

Sophie, a friend of Michael's when he is in school, and on whom he probably has a crush. She is almost the first person whom he tells about Hanna. When he begins his friendship with her, he begins to "betray" Hanna by denying her relationship with him and by cutting short his time with Hanna to be with Sophie and his other friends.

Michael's father, a philosophy professor who specializes in Kant and Hegel. During the Nazi era he lost his job for giving a lecture on Spinoza and had to support himself and his family by writing hiking guidebooks. He is very formal and requires his children to make appointments to see him. He is emotionally stiff and does not easily express his emotions to Michael or his three siblings, which exacerbates the difficulties Hanna creates for Michael. By the time Michael is narrating the story, his father is dead.

Michael's mother, seen briefly. Michael has fond memories of her pampering him as a child, which his relationship with Hanna reawakens. A psychoanalyst tells him he should consider his mother's effect on him more, since she barely figures in his retelling of his life.

Jewish woman, who wrote about surviving the death march from Auschwitz. She lives in New York City when Michael visits her near the end of the story, still suffering from the loss of her own family.