Bernhard
Schlink was born in Bethel, Germany, in 1944, to a German father and a Swiss
mother, the youngest of 4 children. Both his parents were theology students,
although his father lost his job as a Professor of Theology due to the Nazis,
and had to settle on being a pastor instead. Bernhard Schlink was brought up in
Heidelberg from the age of 2. He studied law at West Berlin’s Free University,
graduating in 1968, and became a Professor of the History of Law at Humboldt
University in Berlin. For 2 days a month, he sits a judge in the constitutional
court of North Rhein-Westphalia. In the mid-80s, he realised that he was not
satisfied with just academic writing, and turned to fiction. Making jewellery
and his skills as a masseur did not provide the satisfaction he needed
otherwise. Writing seems to have run in the family: on of his aunts had several
genre novels published, and his uncle had also written a novel that remains
unpublished. 1987 saw the publication of his first novel, “Selbs Justiz” (“Self’s
Punishment”), co-written with Walter Popp. This was a crime novel, the
first to feature a recurring character called “Self”. This was followed in 1988
by “Die
gordische Schleife” (“The Gordian Knot”), and in 1992 by “Selbs Betrug” (“Self
Deception”). In 1995, his most famous novel was published – “Der Vorleser”
(“The Reader”). This was followed up in 2000 by “Liebesfluchten” (“Flights of
Love”), a collection of short stories. In 2001, another Self novel, “Selbs Mord”
(“Self Slaughter”) was published. All the Self novels are currently being
translated into English. “The Reader” is set to become a film directed by
Anthony Minghella.
The Beatrice interview - with Ron Hogan
Bernhard
Schlink: Negotiating with the Dead – Christina Patterson interviews
Bernhard Schlink for The Independent
Reader’s
guide to a moral maze – Nicholas Wroe talks to Bernhard Schlink
Reading by Bernhard Schlink -
Schlink reads an extract from The Reader
New York
Review of Books - a portrait of Bernhard Schlink by David Levine
Reading Group Guides -
has a useful discussion of the novel
The Reader -
read Kevin Patrick Mahoney's review
The
Reader - an excerpt from Chapter 1
Law and Tenderness in Bernhard Schlink’s “The
Reader” – John E. MacKinnon’s essay in “Law and
Literature”, Summer 2004, Vol.16, No. 2 – looks like you have to subscribe to
read
(Il)literacy
and (Im)morality in Bernhard Schlink’s “The Reader” – by John S. Finlay in
“Written Language & Literacy”, Volume 4, No. 2, June 2002 – you have to pay
hefty price to gain access to this access, so it’s best to see if your university
library has access to it
Bernhard
Schlink’s “Der Vorleser” and the Problem of Shame – B. Niven’s essay in
“The Modern Language Review”, Volume 98, No. 2, April 2003. Again, you have to
pay to gain access to this essay
A Sympathy
that does not condone: Notes in summation on Schlink’s “The Reader”-
Richard H. Weisberg’s essay in “Law and Literature”, Summer 2004, Vol. 16, No.
2
Bernhard
Schlink’s “The Reader”: Performing past upon present – details of a
literary conference on the novel
The
caesura of the Holocaust in Martin Amis’ “Time’s Arrow” and Bernhard Schlink’s
“The Reader” – by Ann Parry in “Journal of European Studies”, September
1999. Again, you have to pay to gain access to this essay
“Truth is a woman”: Post-Holocaust Narrative ,
Postmodernism, and the Gender of Fascism in Bernhard Schlink’s “Der Vorleser” –
by Oseph Metz, in “The German Quarterly”, Volune 77, No. 3, Summer 2004
“Our Own Private Erzählraum: Rewriting Bernhard Schlink’s
Der Vorleser on the Web.” – by Caroline Schaumann in “Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German”
34.2 (Fall 2001).
Ernestine Schlant, “Post-Unification: Bernhard Schlink,
Peter Schneider, and W. G. Sebald”, in The Language of Silence: West German
Literature and the Holocaust (London and New York: Routledge, 1999)
