Presupposition of the "German Guilt" World Outlook as a Key to Understanding B.Schlink’s Novel "The Reader"
The present article analyzes the novel of the modern German writer Berhard Schlink «The Reader» through the concepts that constitute the presupposition of «the German guilt» world outlook. The detailed description and interpretation of one of these concepts are given in the article. It is assumed, the interpretation of the main plotlines of «The Reader» is impossible for modern Europeans without a certain amount of background knowledge representing the German way of life and thinking in the 20 th century which is related to the history and culture of contemporary Germany.