Extract
A hideous hero.
The Kindly Ones
By Jonathan Littell Translated by Charlotte Mandell McClelland & Stewart 2009, $29.99, pp. 992 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To situate this stunning novel in any kind of literary tradition, the reviewer must move forward from some obvious precedents. The Third Reich background as a dysfunctional, continent-wide House of Atreus? The protagonist, Dr. Maximilien Aue, as Shakespeare's homicidal Macbeth or a sinister combination of the Bard's Richard II and Richard III? The blood-spilling idealism of Sc...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
