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

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Rafael Tomaz de
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Anamorphosis (Porto Alegre)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.rdl.org.br/anamps/article/view/590
• topic: “The Kindly Ones”; Jonathan Littell; National Socialism; Rechtsstaat; Behemothtsstaat; Behemoth.; “As Benevolentes”; Jonathan Littell; nacional-socialismo; Rechtsstaat; Beemote.

This article is based on the novel The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littell, and its main objective is to explore the experiences of its main character, Maximilien Aue, a Nazi officer, an SS member, a jurist, and a juris doctor, who on several occasions assumed the condition of executioner in one of the Einsatzgruppen that acted in the rear of the German front during the War against the Soviet Union. This study seeks to explore the relationship of this character with a political regime marked by authoritarianism and the erosion of the legal forms that characterize a Rechtsstaat – metaphorized in the figure of the Behemoth, in the interpretation given by Franz Neumann. The methodological structure is guided by strategies of approximation between law and literature, in order to allow, from the construction of a common hermeneutic situation, different ways of relating to the truth established in these two fields of knowledge to access new interpretations in order to analyze the intricate 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, had awakened the Erinyes from their benevolent sleep.