Look Who's Back
Timur
Vermes
Satire
can often be a tricky prospect, for
what should be obvious reasons, and it is difficult to imagine a
trickier target than Adolf
Hitler; this
is especially true when the target audience is German. Timur Vermes
accepts the challenge by dropping
the historical Hitler into modern Germany, with all of his
personality (and
our real-world history)
intact. Moreover, this time-transported Hitler narrates his own
story, putting
readers
into the dubious position of seeing the modern
world
through his point of view and, more importantly, forcing
them to reconcile
that vision with the reality we (think we) understand. The
resurrected Hitler is as stubborn and single-minded as he was in his
own time, and he struggles to make sense of a
Germany that
is radically
different
from both the one that he lived in and the one he intended to create.
Meanwhile,
he cannot accept the reality of his defeat, and thus views every
development as a natural consequence of a resounding Axis victory in
World War II.
The constant discrepancy between Hitler's assumptions and the actual
facts of postwar history creates
the cognitive dissonance that drives the novel and provides the
backbone of its (often pitch-black) humor.
The
primary
result
of this juggling is a very funny novel that pokes fun at the
displaced dictator and at
the
absurdities of the modern world. Yet
Look Who's Back
offers, at
its core,
a stern warning about this
same tendency to laugh at humanity's
darker impulses. Hitler is
recognized and celebrated, in part, because this is what he expects;
what others see as impeccable method acting is, in fact, a life truly
lived, and it slowly wins over the public (but not, in a nice twist
of irony, the actual neo-Nazis, who likewise believe that Hitler is
merely a committed actor in wolf's clothing). He
ultimately
catapults to stardom after going viral on YouTube and winning a gig
on the late-night circuit, a would-be parody act who is funny
precisely because he is the only one not in on the joke. Wisely,
perhaps, Vermes doesn't offer a verdict on the main question that
arises: whether Hitler's charisma or the audience's (our)
susceptibility to the exaggerated illogic of extremism is responsible
for his renewed rise to power. Whatever the answer, the book
certainly invites readers to consider how easily Hitler (still)
captivates audiences, and how easily we dismiss extremists as silly
without fully recognizing the danger they pose.
While
it is surprisingly deep for a book focusing so obviously on ts
surface humor, Look
Who's Back
may fail to resonate fully with an expanded audience. The
trouble with Look
Who's Back,
for American readers, anyway, is that much of its humor is very
narrowly tailored to its German audience. Certain jokes are
necessarily inaccessible, despite translator Jamie Bulloch's best
efforts and an appended glossary offering biographical notes on
former and current German politicians (including lesser-known figures
within the original NSDAP), entertainers, and potentially obscure
facets of the country's entertainment industry. These references
force the foreign reader into a catch-22: to read the explanatory
notes is to accept spoilers, but to ignore them is to dwell in
ignorance and miss many of the jokes as they fly past unheeded. It is
somewhat unfair to blame either Vermes or Bulloch for this, but the
obvious disconnect did affect my enjoyment of the novel; the book
sacrifices universal accessibility for a deeper dive into modern
German culture, and as a result it is impossible for many (if not
most) English readers to fully appreciate and/or understand its humor
and underlying message. Even in this somewhat distilled form,
however, Look
Who's Back
cleverly explores the ramifications of its interesting premise,
offering plenty of slapstick and satire to entertain readers who
cannot fully appreciate, or judge, its criticisms.
Grade:
B+
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