Hanna’s Loneliness: Reading The Reader with Hannah Arendt

This study aims to associate Arendt s reading of “evil” with Bernhard Schlink s The Reader. There is a striking resemblance between Arendt s Eichmann and Schlink s Hanna, the character that paves the way for sharp criticism towards the novel. Beside that, Arendt s analysis of human experiences of loneliness may provide more data to understand Hanna. For both writers, the endeavor to “understand” the environment leading political evil to prosper is a part of the struggle against the repetition of similar circumstances.