The novel, which reads as a resume of the crimes of the SS corporal Maximilien Aue, has been critically acclaimed around the world, though it has also been the source of much controversy. Littell was inspired to write the book by a photograph of a Soviet partisan hanged by the Nazis and the documentary film Shoah, by Claude Lanzmann. The title refers to the Erinyes or Furies, the vengeful goddesses who pursued Orestes in Aeschylus's tragedies but were transformed into the Eumenides or Kindly Ones after Orestes' acquittal.
Littell worked on the novel for several years, doing research in Russia, Ukraine and Poland.
The Kindly Ones, which Littell wrote in French, won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française and the Prix Goncourt in 2006. The book has just been published in English
Photo: The Guardian
