German Lesson Book

What struck me so strongly when I began reading this was the prose. It was unlike anything I'd read yet. I found myself reading snippets to my roommate out loud so I could share the use of imagery, detail, and language.

Most reviews I've seen on here give a brief synopsis, and that's very nice, but it doesn't tell why the book is so amazing. I picked it up at a used book store without any prior knowledge of the author or the artist upon whom it was based. And for that I'm glad. I went into it with an almost morbid curiosity as to what a German author writing in the 1960's would be saying about a German town in Nazi Germany.

One thing that became obvious very quickly was that the word "Nazi" is never once used in the book. I found this to be an interesting omission at first but grew to appreciate it. Because it's not a book about the Nazis and it's not a book about WWII. It's a book about duty. This story could have been written about any society who finds itself in a war of ideals and has to cope with perceived "enemies within." I realize that this is a quintessential piece of literature in understanding and explaining the everyday German population during this period, but it's much, much bigger than that.

On the topic of duty, the author has much to say. The protagonist's father is always espousing his views on duty. Duty to his country, duty to his post, duty to his leaders. There's also the undercurrent of the protagonist's own sense of duty with runs in two distinct themes. His duty during the retelling of his story (a duty to his brother, sister, the painter, and his own moral conceptions of duty) and his duty to finishing the task before him even when the people who originally gave him the task eventually try to make him stop. Finally, the painter has his own sense of duty to his art and craft despite those trying to silence him.

In all cases, the duty of each is blindly obsessive.

Take away the elements of WWII, take away the Germans, and read this as a study of human character during extreme conditions Nationalistic existentialism. In the end, the only thing each character has to cling to is his or her own sense of duty. Be it a duty of self preservation, a national agenda, art and expression, or an obsessive quest of self identity.