The Education of Arnold Hitler

by Marc Estrin

At once a chess master, a linguist, an athlete and an innocent in love, Arnold passes through the racial tensions of Mansfield, Texas (home of the author of Black Like Me) in the 1950s, the anti-war movement at Harvard, and both the Upper East Side and the Bowery, meeting Noam Chomsky, Al Gore, and Leonard Bernstein in the process, and finally learning the meaning of meaning.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Marc Estrin is an author, cellist, and political activist living in Burlington, Vermont. He has published four novels, and a memoir of his thirty-five years of working with the Bread & Puppet Theater."

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favorites. Estrin has a talent for the manipulation of history and archetype into something wholly new- Arnold is the classically earnest golden boy (with a bit of depth beyond his football technique and blonde good looks), and the vision and scope of his life is an incredibly pleasurable experience (albeit one that'll probably evoke a slight twinge of envy for those of us who aren't at Harvard in the '60s).

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Rose is a rose is a rose." That was one of the only quotes about naming that wasn't used in this book. Arnold Hitler does not like his name. I know, Arnold is a bit passe in these times, like Mildred or Melvin. But maybe it's his last name that everyone seems to be hung up on.

This fun book takes a lot of ways Estrin can think of to illuminate that the signifier is not the signified. We have a blond football loving quarterback that is 1/4 Jewish and not in the least fascist. A stripper (Evelyn Brown) who is a feminist disaster artist holed up in a bunker with Arnold to fight against the signifiers. That the score is not the music (in the Lenny Bernstein section), the score is not the game (in the football section), the skin is not the person, and that ontogeny does not have to let that old fascist phylogeny dictate everything, that we are as free as we want to be.

There are many nods to Estrin's forebears (his phylogeny so to speak) which he recapitulates. I see V. in the New York section (along with V-dub - a Pynchonian character if ever there was one outside of Pynchon and Wallace). Kafka and the ancient bildung Romans of Dickens and Dostoyevsky as Hitler becomes educated in the world. As one negative reviewer on GoodReads does mention, there is a Forrest Gump quality as Arnold seems to encounter various historical situations - but I took those as they come and they are usually well done.

[Shannon Trainor]

Meh.

[Stacia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words and names are powerful. frequently i don't think about the assumptions made based on only a person's name. this was a stark reminder of the impact of perceptions and long term life changes made as a result.

[Rock · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was kind of like the counterculture Forrest Gump. Which is only part of the reason it was so terrible.

[Ralph Sorensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Try going through life with a name like this! Arnold does it and relives periods of my own life. His prolonged encounter with Leonard Benstein is remarkable.

[Christina Sadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. The character of Arnold is so interesting and likable. I loved the references to realy people and events of history. Highly recommended.