徐林克《我願意為妳朗讀》中的脫罪策略

Strategies of Exculpation in Bernhard Schlink’s TheReader

徐林克的小說《我願意為妳朗讀》自從1995年出版以來都是一本既受歡迎又有爭議的書，其焦點是納粹德國的後代如何被捲入長輩的罪行。有不少評論家認為這部小說是要替曾在集中營當過納粹女衛兵的女主角或甚至替所有納粹的罪犯脫罪。為了查證這樣的說法是否屬實，本文先介紹德國著名文化學與文學家阿萊達‧阿斯曼(Aleida Assmann,169-182)所提出的五種脫罪策略（抵消、外移、漠視、沉默與偽造），然後在此基礎上分析《我願意為妳朗讀》一書中如何呈現並利用這些策略。最後再比較文本分析的結果和徐林克本人對此議題的立場。本文的結論是：阿斯曼所提出的五種脫罪策略在小說中雖然全部都有用到，甚至發揮的淋漓盡致，但此書的目的並不在於幫納粹脫罪，而是邀請讀者來思考並檢討這些像教課書中的範例一樣呈現在讀者眼前的脫罪策略。

Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader has been just as popular as controversial since it was published in 1995.The novel’s main topic is the entanglement of the postwar generation in the Nazi crimes done by the generation of their fathers. Some critics have accused this novel of intending to exculpate the heroine Hanna, who worked for the SS during World War II, and even the whole generation of Nazi perpetrators. To find out if this accusation is justified, this paper will first present the five exculpation strategies formulated by the well-known expert of literature and culture studies Aleida Assmann (169-182). Then, we will analyze if and how these exculpation strategies are used in the Readerand whatkind offunctionsthey have. The results of the analysis will be compared with Schlink’s personal statements on this problem. As a crucial result, this paper will show that all exculpation strategies mentioned by Assmann are used in the Readerand presented almost as obviously as in a textbook. But Schlink’s purpose wasby no meansto write a whitewashing book. The text rather invites his readers to view the presented exculpation strategies as didactic examples and to reflect them critically.