(HI)STORY IN FILM AND LITERATURE
Dr. Latham
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
ISBN-13: 978-037584220
The required summer text for “(Hi)Story in Film and Literature" is Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. We will use the novel as a springboard to discuss “History” writing in general and WW II specifically. Zusak’s novel provides a means to both understand and begin to articulate a tragedy as harrowing as the Holocaust. Memory of the Holocaust and questions of how best to represent it, if at all, have been at the center of political, cultural, and intellectual debates since the end of World War II. Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel has declared, “Auschwitz negates any form of literature, as it defies all systems, all doctrines.” Jean-François Lyotard, a French intellectual and literary theorist, explains the inadequacy that confronts us in the face of Auschwitz through the use of a metaphor, that of an earthquake which is so powerful as to destroy all instruments of measurement. At the heart of the controversy is the discrepancy between the need to interpret and represent the Holocaust, and the insufficiency of traditional methods of representation when confronted with the task. In short, the Holocaust forces one to probe the limits of representation.
Markus Zusak tackles the controversy in a most direct way. He uses words, plain and simple, to tell the tale of a young girl caught in the middle of a world she cannot begin to comprehend. He places History in the background and a personal storyin the foreground. Leisel Meminger’s life is not her own. We know this from the moment we meet her in 1939 war-torn Germany. As Death, our narrator, reminds us on page one of the novel, “You are going to die.” She is destined to die as we all are, but her story is unique. The Book Thief is Leisel’s own story, a story that will haunt you as it does the narrator, Death.
Here are some questions, themes, and ideas to track and think about as you read. Please note you need not answer each and every question. These are guideline questions to get you thinking and exploring Zusak’s novel:
What are your early impressions of Death? How does he reveal himself to you? What tone does he adopt to tell us of Leisel Meminger, of WW II, and of humanity? What are some words you would use to describe him? Is his tone appropriate given his subject matter?
As the novel progresses does Death change? Does he surprise you? Mark passages or moments in which you sense a different side to Death? What sparks his altered state(s) of mind?
It takes some time before you warm up to Leisel and even longer before you truly begin to understand her. What are some defining moments in your understanding of Leisel? What events in her life on Himmel Street help to shape and define her?
Zusak often pairs unexpected emotions. He juxtaposes seemingly incongruent sensations. For example, you may read that “the sight of Papa watching him walk away roared at them from up the street,” that “guilt smelled; No, it had a stench,” that “the worried expression scribbled like a mess onto Mama,” or that Leisel had “wirelike shins,” “coat hanger arms,” and a “starving smile.” As you read actively mark such descriptions. What impact do they have on you (e.g. are they jarring, thought provoking, beautiful)? How might they help make sense of the insensible (i.e. of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust)?
How does humor function in the novel? What moments strike you as especially “funny” or entertaining? Do you ever feel uncomfortable laughing with Rudy and Leisel, or smirking at one of Death’s comments in the face of the tragedy you are reading about?
Words. They are an essential part of the content of The Book Thief. Leisel devours words, she steals books, she reads, and she ultimately writes. How do words also come to play a part in the novel’s form? How does Zusak play with words throughout the novel? How do they take center stage in the book’s literal format?
Though The Book Thief is historical fiction, history proper takes a back seat to the personal story of Leisel Meminger. Zusak refers rather haphazardly to several critical dates in WW II. Death mentions Kristallnacht, he alludes to events of June 23, 1942 in passing, he provides a few chilling descriptions of Germany’s war campaign in Russia, but we are never given precise details; we are never instructed on what has occurred.
When Zusak makes mention of an historical event please mark it and, if time and curiosity allow, do a quick Google search to learn more about the event. Finally, consider why the novel works in this fashion. What does Zusak gain by shifting perspectives? What impact does the shift have on you as the reader?