Talk:The Reader

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Germany Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Germany, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles related to Germany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please join the project and help with our open tasks.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
Additional information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no

	Literature Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to narrative novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit one of the articles mentioned below, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.
Assessment comments This article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

The following user(s) are actively contributing to this article and may be able to help with questions about verification and sources: Daniel Case (talk · contribs) This in no way implies article ownership; all editors are encouraged to contribute.

Contents 1 Publishing dates 2 Vorlesen 3 Film: Juliette Binoche 4 Illness 5 True story?

[edit] Publishing dates

The article originally stated that The Reader was "first published in the USA in 1995." This can't be right, because (a) the book first came out in Germany, (b) the copyright page of the Vintage (English language) version, the book is copyright 1995 by a German publisher, and copyright 1997 by the German-to-English translator, Carol Brown Janeway. If this information is incomplete or misleading, by all means change it. --zenohockey 22:27, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

It appears to have been changed.

I am going to be working on this article actively in the next couple of weeks (I hope). There is a lot in the German article that might be worth it to translate and put in here (although it is, so far, very heavy on the psychology ... I thought I'd never see Verdrängung outside of Freud). But we have a picture so far and they don't! So there! Daniel Case 07:24, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Vorlesen

The article includes the statement that vorlesen has just one meaning: to read aloud. There is another meaning in the context of e.g. a university, where it can mean "to lecture" or at least bears this connotation, hence 'Die Vorlesung' - 'the lecture'. Whether this is actually relevant to the analysis of the book I leave others to judge. For me, 'Der Vorleser', along with 'Austerlitz' (W. G. Sebald) and 'Jacob the Liar' (Jurek Becker), is one of the most thoughtful German novels on the subject of the Holocaust. The translators of 'Der Vorleser' and 'Austerlitz' also did an outstanding job (I can't comment on the translation of Jakob der Lügner'). --TraceyR 22:06, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Film: Juliette Binoche

There's no source for Juliette Binoche's having been slated to play Hanna. I can't find any, apart from the IMDb message board for the film, which isn't really citable. --zenohockey 23:41, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Illness

The article says that Michael's illness in the start of the book is hepatitis. It's jaundice, surely? 'Gelbsucht'? --clashcitizens 17:47, 26 September 2007

In the English version it says "hepatitis;" it's the first line of the novel.[1] María (críticame) 16:51, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Jaundice is a common symptom of hepatitis. Daniel Case 17:11, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

That's right, I forgot about that! I wonder if that's what the German is referring to. María (críticame) 18:17, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

"Gelb" means yellow, so without looking at my German dictionary, or the German wiktionary, yes, I think. Daniel Case 18:56, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I meant that I was wondering whether the original German started with something similar to "I had jaundice" or "I had jaundice caused by hepatitis" or what-have-you. Does the German even mention hepatitis? That's what I was wondering. María (críticame) 18:59, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] True story?

I wonder if this novel is based on a true story, or even the author's autobiography. Is there any clue on this? sentausa (talk) 08:02, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I suppose that's a testament to Schlink's skill. No one has ever said this is anything but fiction. Daniel Case (talk) 16:55, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, it is semi-autobiographical in that the author shares similarities with the narrator; they are both children of WWII and have legal backgrounds. I've never heard that the events in the book are based on a true story, however, so I suspect the aforementioned similarities are why his article states that the novel is "partly autobiographical". María (habla conmigo) 17:18, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

The question of whether it's an autobiography or fiction was asked during the Oprah Show. "Though Bernhard admits that The Reader does contain some autobiographical elements, it is not an autobiography. When asked if he had a real-life Hanna in his own past, Bernhard says, 'I am from the Old World and have an old-fashioned sense of privacy.'" You can make your own judgement whether that's a yes or no reply. 202.123.89.4 (talk) 05:34, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Alright, thanks. I think we can use that. Daniel Case (talk) 13:25, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

If you can find a source for that, it might be worth putting in. Daniel Case (talk) 18:12, 16 April 2008 (UTC)