Subverting Connections with the Reader

Abstract

In this chapter, the author considers three aspects of human life that have the potential to foster connections with the reader owing to their significance in human society: religion, sex and cultural references. In the end, the author argues that, although each of these elements denotes an aspect of human life that is culturally and socially significant, authors of perpetrator fiction use them in corrupted or perverse forms as a metaphor for the corruption and perversity of standard ethical values under the Third Reich. Returning to the question of empathy, the author argues that such tensions force the reader to perpetually renegotiate their relationship with the protagonists, thereby undermining the possibility of straightforward empathetic responses.