Hier diskutieren wir über unsere Lieblingsliteraturhelden, die sich kennenzulernen lohnt./ Here we discuss our favourite characters. 

Dagmar Wiegand - 07.02.2019 @ 17:21

Characters worth meeting

By Anders Fransson, VKS/Sweden

The saying goes that reading is a way of travelling. The novel takes you to places you wouldn’t dream of paying a visit to. Although it’s fiction you get to know the environment and the different cultures to a certain degree. At the same time you get an insight of human resources through meeting the characters, both the major and the minor ones, by reading the novel or the short story.  Being the reader you come across flat as well as highly interesting characters. The flat ones disappear quickly into oblivion while the non-stereotypical persons might stay in your mind forever. So what characters of the world literature would I like to invite for dinner?

I couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity of inviting Hamlet and try to decipher his broodings. Was he out of his senses? Why did he neglect Ofelia when he needed her the most? Like the author William Shakespeare, he would probably have given me ambiguous answers and thereby remain a riddle. Of course this character is placed on a scene which is something out of the ordinary but he is very much a representative of the human race in his way of thinking about important and petty things.

Beside Hamlet I would place the main character in Ian McEwan’s novel Saturday.  In this book you can follow Henry Perowne, a successful brain surgeon, during one specific Saturday.  Imagine that you are beaten up in the early afternoon and later on that day you, being the brain surgeon, are called in for an emergency surgery. Who is then the patient if not the person who had assaulted you at an earlier stage the same day, in other words, the victim is about to treat his perpetrator. So what went through Perowne’s mind during the surgery?

The third person around the table would be the famous butler Mr. Stevens, the narrator and protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. In order to fulfill his duties for the Lord he suppresses his own feelings, for instance not responding to Miss Kenton’s “signals” as she quite clearly shows affections for him. Now as he approaches the end of his life I would like to give him a penny for his thoughts.

Through reading you enrich your language, develop your ability of showing empathy, and learn about the unknown places.

Anders Fransson - 26.03.2019 @ 16:34

I find your thoughts about the characters you list very interesting, you obviously have a lot of thoughts about these "people". I totally agree with you; it would be very interesting to talk with my favourite characters. Personally I think I would like to have a chat with Dorian Gray (The picture of Dorian Gray) or Lord Henry (from the same book). The thing is that I´m not sure we would always be happy with the answers. Especially not if we actually relate to and like the character as a person. If they were real, I do not think that we would like them as much. I also think that it would be wonderful to meet the authors of the books one likes. Meeting someone who has created something so beautiful would be amazing. Just listening to them talk. I would recommend you to read the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It’s one of my favourite books and its full of interesting characters and beautifully written.

Smilla Pettersson - 09.05.2019 @ 11:26

Your thoughts about the characters you´ve chosen are really interesting. I think it would be great if we were able to meet our favourite characters, but I also think, that sometimes it´s better to not know every detail. Maybe you are not going to like an answer to a question you have asked.

Still, if I could choose a character of my choice, I would choose Jesus. I think it would be interesting to have a conversation with him. I would ask him lot of questions; I still have no answer to.

Hannah Beitz - 20.05.2019 @ 19:28

The first moment you thinking of an idea of meeting famous characters from your favourite novel can be unbelievable.

Initially, you start to imagine a conversation with your favourite character from a film or a novel. You have a lot of questions you want to ask them. It’s risky because the answers of your character might not appeal to you. A bad answer can destroy your whole opinion about the character. But the opposite of it can also happen. Your beloved character is very similar to you, so you will be best friends. After it, coming back to the reality is very disappointing.

You’ve imagined this situation and then you realize that it is just a dream. So I think it’s good from time to time to daydream, but you’d rather stick to reality.

Tamás Koósa - 23.05.2019 @ 22:23

we see clearly that Mira was a very courageous girl. Mira had to take care of her family, after the death of her father. And she was only 16. She has squeezed through borders and has not stepped back despite the fear given way.

Well, I don´t really have a literary hero. I read the books I like, mostly I pay attention to the content if it has a message or interesting things to tell. Anyway, I don´t really have a fictive person as a role model until now. However, I like the book Don Quixote this is written by Miguel de Cervantes. I think the parody behind it´ s funny. The author probably wanted to make fun of the chivalric novels. On the other hand, I send you an important message in the book. Believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, however crazy they may be. Thank you for reading.

Melike Aksak - 11.07.2019 @ 20:05

Hello everyone!

We really enjoyed your article and we want to meet these characters too because of it. We were surprised by Hannah's idea but we think it is great.

My big dream is to meet Rodion Raskolnikow from "Crime and punishment". I will try not to spoil you the book. Generally, the main character kills somebody but he has his own explanation for this. His philosophy says that there are extraordinary people who are created to do amazing, really important things and people who should just listen to them. That's why he tries to discover if his unusual or just like the rest. I would like to ask him if he regret this and what he felt during doing this horrible act.

Moreover, I want to meet Becky Sharp from "Vanity Fair". She was penniless young woman who had no one but herself to help her in life. After finishing school she had to find her own way without the help of a mother or father, her only friend was Amelia Sedley but she did not understand her struggle because Amelia had everything she ever wished for. I would love to meet her because she is a real survival artist who came a long way on her own.

Sara Kotlarz, Magdalena Dessl

Sara Kotlarz - 04.10.2019 @ 13:51