Title: The Dwarf

By Par Lagerkvist (Author), Alexandra Dick (Translator)

Publishing Info: Presently out of print

Genre: Novel

Sub-genre: - Historical Fiction

Nationality: -Swedish

Time Period: - 20th Century /

First and Last Read by Dr. Rearick - March. 2009

Rated: - A+

Use: Introduction to World Literature II

Location: - Dr. Rearick's Office 

Scripture that comes to mind:

Comments:  This short novel is filled with the musing of one of the most extraordinarily repulsive characters I have met in fiction.  I told my wife that it was like reading the musing of Gollum from Lord of the Rings without any relief with the narratives of Gandalf or Bilbo.  However, I also realized that the narrator is part of the tradition of the Nihilist (one who follows Nihilism) narrator which appears in several works of the 20th century works.  I am thinking of The Underground Man and

The strange thing is that Christian faith and or the church plays an important role within the work.  And the dwarf himself defines himself as a "Christian."  But again he looks upon the chapel as a little torture chamber where everyone looks upon Christ suffering.  It's accurate, and we Christians often forget that the cross is actually a tool of torture and execution, but that is all he sees.
 
 

Links

Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical position that values do not exist but rather are falsely invented.[1] Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life[2] is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists assert that morality does not exist, and subsequently there are no moral values with which to uphold a rule or to logically prefer one action over another. Nihilism can also take the form of epistemological, metaphysical or mereological nihilism.

The term nihilism is sometimes used synonymously with anomie to denote the general mood of despair at the pointlessness of existence that one has when they realize there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.[3] Movements such as Futurism and deconstructionism,[4] among others, have been identified by commentators as "nihilistic" at various times in various contexts. Often this means or is meant to imply that the beliefs of the accuser are more substantial or truthful, whereas the beliefs of the accused are nihilistic, and thereby comparatively amount to nothing (or are simply claimed to be destructively amoralistic).

Nihilism is also a characteristic that has been ascribed to time periods: for example, Jean Baudrillard and others have called postmodernity a nihilistic epoch,[5] and some Christian theologians and figures of religious authority have asserted that postmodernity[6] and many aspects of modernity[4] represent a rejection of theism, and that such a rejection entails some form of nihilism.