In the belly of the Behemoth: a study of law and nonlaw in the context of "The Kindly Ones", by Jonathan Littell

Abstract

The subject of this article was the novel The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littell, with the aim to explore the experiences of his main character, Maximilien Aue, the Nazi officer, SS member, jurist, Doctor juris, and on several occasions him assumed the condition of executioner of one of the Einsatzgruppen who acted in the rear of the German front in the War against the Soviet Union. It was then sought to analyze the relationship of this character with a political regime marked by authoritarianism and erosion of the legal forms that characterize a Rechtsstaat, This regime is metaphorized in the figure of Behemoth, in the interpretation given by Franz Neumann. The methodological structure is guided by the strategies of approximation between law and literature in order to allow, from the construction of a common hermeneutic situation, the different ways of relating to the truth that are established in these two fields of knowledge, interpretative accesses to reflection on the paradoxical relationship between law and authoritarianism. The outcome, starting from Max Aue's tragic experience, illuminated the fate reserved for those who, as people or individuals, have awakened the Erinyes from their benevolent sleep.

Keywords

• “As Benevolentes”
• Jonathan Littell
• nacional-socialismo
• Rechtsstaat
• Beemote.