ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a close reading of the psychodynamics of the seductive power of books in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, which quickly became an international bestseller. It is therefore fitting that this essay should explore bibliophilia and the appeal of book-objects to nonprofessional readers, epitomized by Liesel Meminger in Zusak’s endearing story. By exploring the bibliophilic materiality of books and their nonliterary functions, this young adult novel accurately illustrates the scopic and haptic pleasures readers can derive from books as aesthetic and tactile objects.
After a first section on book-related appeal, the essay will investigate the reader-driven appeal by looking into the anticipatory and consummatory pleasures that these objects generate. The last section covering emotional involvement interrogates the dual nature of Liesel Meminger’s affective response to books set against a grim historical backdrop – the traumatic horrors of World War II and the threatening Nazi bibliocaust.
