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Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell
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Jonathan Littell (born October 10, 1967) is an American-born writer living in Barcelona.[1] His first novel written in French, The Kindly Ones (2006; Les Bienveillantes), won two major French awards, including the Prix Goncourt and the Prix de l'Académie française.

Key Information

Littell grew up in France and the United States and is a citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor's degree, he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine years, leaving his job in 2001 in order to concentrate on writing.

Early life and career

[edit]

Littell is the son of author Robert Littell. Although his grandparents were Jews who emigrated from Russia to the United States at the end of the 19th century, Littell does not define himself as a Jew "at all," and is quoted as saying, "for me Judaism is more [of] a historical background."[2]

Born in New York City, Littell arrived in France at age three, then completed part of his education in his native country from age 13 to 16, before returning to France to achieve his baccalauréat. He returned again to the United States where he attended Yale University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1989.[3] During his years at Yale, he finished his first book, Bad Voltage, and later on met William S. Burroughs, who left a lasting impression on him. Due to his influence, he started to read Burroughs, as well as Sade, Blanchot, Genet, Céline, Bataille and Beckett.[4] Afterwards, he worked as a translator, rendering French works by Sade, Blanchot, Genet and Quignard into English.[5][6] At the same time, he started to write a ten-volume book, but gave up the project after the third volume.[7]

From 1994 to 2001, he worked for the international humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger, working mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Chechnya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Caucasus, Afghanistan and Moscow.[2][8] In January 2001 he was victim of an ambush in Chechnya, during which he was slightly wounded.[9] In the same year he decided to quit his job in order to concentrate on the research of his second book, The Kindly Ones. During that time, he also worked as a consultant for humanitarian organizations.[2]

Littell obtained French citizenship (while being able to keep his American citizenship) in March 2007 after French officials made use of a clause stating that any French speaker whose "meritorious actions contribute to the glory of France" are allowed to become citizens, despite not fulfilling the requirement that he live in France for more than six months out of the year.[10]

Works

[edit]

Littell's novel The Kindly Ones was written in French and was published in France in 2006. The novel is the story of World War II and the Eastern Front, through the fictional memories of an articulate SS officer named Maximilien Aue.[11]

Littell said he was inspired to write the novel after seeing a photograph of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a Soviet partisan executed by the Wehrmacht. He traces the original inspiration for the book from seeing Claude Lanzmann’s film Shoah, an acclaimed documentary about the Holocaust, in 1991. He began research for the book in 2001 and started the first draft eighteen months later, after he had read around two hundred books about the Third Reich and the Eastern Front,[12] as well as visiting Germany, East Europe and Caucasus. Littell claims that he undertook the creation of his main character, Aue, by imagining what he himself would have done had he been born in pre-war Germany and had become a National Socialist.[2]

Littell's only previously published book, the cyberpunk novel Bad Voltage, which Littell considers "a very bad science-fiction novel",[13] tells the story of Lynx, a "half-breed" who lives in a futuristic Paris. Many scenes in the novel take place in the Paris Catacombs; he also includes an unusual appendix in this novel which lists all the music and songs he listened to while composing. In addition, Littell has published a detailed intelligence report about the security organs of the Russian Federation, an analysis of Léon Degrelle's book La Campagne de Russie, influenced by the works of the sociologist Klaus Theweleit, one book with four texts written before The Kindly Ones and, finally, a short essay.[citation needed]

Following The Kindly Ones, Littell directed a documentary titled Wrong Elements, in which he interviews the former child soldiers of Joseph Kony. The film was screened out of competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[14]

Awards

[edit]

The Kindly Ones won the 2006 Prix Goncourt and the grand prix du roman of the Académie française. By the end of 2007, more than 700,000 copies had been sold in France.[15]

Littell was recognised for his contributions in the area of overwrought erotica when the English translation of The Kindly Ones won the 2009 Bad Sex in Fiction Award from The Literary Review, a British literary journal.[16] Littell reportedly beat tough competition for that year's honours, with Philip Roth and Nick Cave among the writers filling out the short list.[17]

He won the Prix Sade in 2018 for Une vieille histoire.[18]

Commentary

[edit]

In a May 2008 interview with Haaretz, Littell accused Israel of using the Holocaust for political gain and likened Israel's behavior in the occupied territories to that of the Nazis prior to World War II: "If the [Israeli] government would let the soldiers do worse things, they would. Everyone says, 'Look how the Germans dealt with the Jews even before the Holocaust: cutting the beards, humiliating them in public, forcing them to clean the street.' That kind of stuff happens in the territories every day. Every goddamn day." However, he also said that "We really cannot compare the two".[2]

Personal life

[edit]

Jonathan Littell married a Belgian woman and had two children with her, Émir (b. 2000) and Alma Littell (b. 2002).[19][20]

List of works

[edit]
  • 1989 – Bad Voltage
  • 2006 – Les Bienveillantes (The Kindly Ones, 2009)
  • 2006 – The Security Organs of the Russian Federation. A Brief History 1991–2004
  • 2008 – Le Sec et L'Humide
  • 2008 – Études
  • 2008 – Georgisches Reisetagebuch
  • 2009 – Récit sur Rien
  • 2009 – Tchétchénie, An III
  • 2010 – En Pièces
  • 2011 – Triptyque: Trois études sur Francis Bacon (Triptych: Three Studies after Francis Bacon, 2013)
  • 2011 – The Invisible Enemy
  • 2012 – Une vieille histoire
  • 2012 – Carnets de Homs (Syrian Notebooks: Inside the Homs uprising, 2015)
  • 2013 – The Fata Morgana Books
  • 2018 – Une vielle histoire (nouvelle version)
  • 2022 – De l'agression russe. Écrits polémiques
  • 2023 – Un endroit inconvénient (with photographs by Antoine d'Agata)
  • 2024 – The Damp and the Dry (translated to English by Max Lawton)

List of awards

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jonathan Littell

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from Grokipedia
Jonathan Littell (born October 10, 1967) is an American-born writer of French-language literature, residing in , who gained international prominence for his debut novel Les Bienveillantes (The Kindly Ones, 2006), a fictional narrated by an SS officer during . Born in to American writer Robert Littell, he spent much of his childhood in and holds dual United States-French citizenship with a Jewish family background. After attending , Littell worked for humanitarian organizations including in conflict zones such as Bosnia, , and the of Congo, experiences that informed his writing. Littell's Les Bienveillantes sold over 750,000 copies in within months of publication and secured the prestigious as well as the Grand Prix of the , marking a rare achievement for a non-native French speaker. The novel's graphic depictions of atrocities, sexual content, and attempt to explore Nazi from within provoked significant , with critics accusing it of historical inaccuracies, voyeuristic labeled "death porn," and insufficient moral condemnation of its , while defenders praised its unflinching confrontation with evil's banality. Subsequent works include the novel Le Secours (2009), essays on literature and war, and collaborations in filmmaking, such as Wrong Elements (2016), reflecting his ongoing interest in and human extremity. The author's choice to write in French as an American outsider further fueled literary establishment tensions in .

Early Life and Education

Family Background and Childhood

Jonathan Littell was born on May 13, 1967, in New York City to American parents of Jewish descent. His father, Robert Littell, is a noted American spy novelist known for works such as The Company (2002). Littell's paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia who settled in the United States in the early 20th century. The family's Jewish heritage traces back through these Russian origins, influencing Littell's later explorations of Holocaust themes in his writing, though specific childhood religious practices remain undocumented in primary accounts. Littell spent much of his early years divided between the and , acquiring dual citizenship in both countries. His upbringing was primarily in , where he was educated, reflecting his father's professional mobility and the bilingual environment that shaped his proficiency in both English and French. This transatlantic childhood fostered a cosmopolitan identity, with Littell later describing himself as a Franco-American shaped by these dual cultural influences. No public records detail specific formative events from his pre-teen years, but the period laid the groundwork for his eventual return to the U.S. for higher education.

Academic Pursuits

Littell attended as an undergraduate, graduating in 1989. His studies there marked a return to the following his childhood in , though the specific field of his is not detailed in available biographical accounts.

Humanitarian Work

Involvement with Aid Organizations

Littell joined the French-based international humanitarian organization (Action Contre la Faim) in 1994, following his graduation from , and remained with the group until 2001. During this period, he conducted field operations primarily in amid the , where he addressed malnutrition and displacement crises. His assignments extended to other conflict zones, including , where in 1999 he established a field office in neighboring to support aid delivery during the Second Chechen War. In addition to Action Against Hunger, Littell worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), focusing on medical and relief efforts in regions such as and . These roles involved direct exposure to violence and humanitarian emergencies, including the distribution of food aid and assessment of civilian needs in war-torn areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo. By 2001, after sustaining a minor injury in the field, Littell departed from full-time humanitarian work to pursue writing, though he later contributed as a consultant to aid initiatives in , , and the . His tenure with these organizations totaled approximately seven to nine years, emphasizing response in active conflicts rather than administrative or long-term development roles. Littell's experiences informed subsequent writings and reports, such as a 2008 analysis of Chechen governance under , highlighting aid challenges like corruption and restricted access.

Experiences in Conflict Zones

From 1994 to 2001, Jonathan Littell worked as a field operative for the humanitarian organization (Action Contre la Faim), focusing on relief efforts in multiple active war zones. His assignments primarily centered on during the (1992–1995), where he managed aid distribution and logistical operations amid campaigns and siege conditions that displaced over two million people and resulted in approximately 100,000 deaths. In the , Littell headed Action Against Hunger's mission starting in 1999, establishing a field office in to coordinate cross-border assistance into amid the Second Chechen War, which had reignited with Russian military offensives displacing hundreds of thousands. In 2000, he led an assessment team that entered Chechen territory to evaluate humanitarian needs, including food aid and medical support for civilians affected by bombardment and ground fighting. Littell's Chechnya operations faced direct threats from ongoing insurgent and counterinsurgent violence; in January 2001, his convoy was ambushed in Chechen territory, leaving him slightly wounded but able to break through the attack, after which Action Against Hunger temporarily suspended programs in the area. This incident, amid a conflict that killed tens of thousands of civilians, prompted the organization to evacuate expatriate staff. Beyond Europe, Littell conducted missions in and , including the during its civil war phases (involving resource-driven militias and over five million deaths by some estimates), amid Darfur-related instability, Sierra Leone's civil war (marked by diamond-fueled atrocities), and under Taliban rule and post-2001 U.S. intervention precursors. These roles involved on-the-ground coordination of emergency nutrition programs and psychological assessments of violence's impacts on perpetrators and survivors.

Literary Career and Major Works

The Kindly Ones (2006)

, published in French by on September 7, 2006, marked Jonathan Littell's debut novel in that language and his breakthrough as a literary figure. The 984-page work, written over one year following five years of historical research into Nazi bureaucracy and , adopts the form of a fictional first-person narrated by Maximilien Aue, an SS-Obersturmbannführer of French-German descent. Aue recounts his wartime roles in , participation in mass executions on the Eastern Front, and administrative involvement in the , including encounters with figures like and . The narrative structure draws its title from the Eumenides (Kindly Ones) of Aeschylus's , framing Aue's post-war reflections amid personal psychological turmoil, including incestuous themes and a refusal of remorse. Littell incorporates extensive historical detail, blending real events such as the and the siege of Stalingrad with invented elements to probe the perpetrator's mindset, emphasizing the bureaucratic rationalizations enabling —what Hannah Arendt termed the "banality of evil." Critics noted the novel's unflinching depiction of atrocities, rendered in precise, often clinical prose that avoids moralizing judgment, instead immersing readers in the moral void of the narrator. Upon release, Les Bienveillantes achieved immediate commercial success, selling over 250,000 copies in within two months and topping bestseller lists. It garnered the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in October 2006 and the on November 6, 2006, 's premier literary prize, selected from five finalists and sparking debate over its Nazi viewpoint. Initial reception praised its ambitious scope and stylistic mastery but divided on ethical grounds: some lauded its challenge to taboos by humanizing evil without excusing it, while others, including survivors' groups, condemned the sympathetic lens on a perpetrator as potentially relativizing Nazi crimes. The English translation, The Kindly Ones by Charlotte Mandell, appeared in 2009, renewing transatlantic controversy.

Post-2006 Fiction

In the years following the publication of Les Bienveillantes in 2006, Jonathan Littell's output of extended fiction remained limited, with his primary contribution being the work initially released as the Une vieille histoire by Éditions Fata Morgana in 2012. This piece was later expanded into a full-length titled Une vieille histoire: Nouvelle version, published by Gallimard in 2018. The narrative centers on an ambiguous —whose and identity remain deliberately indistinct—confronting scenes of raw and human degradation in a remote, unspecified setting, blending elements of psychological with stark depictions of bodily and moral extremity. The 2018 edition, spanning nearly 400 pages, amplifies the original's themes of witnessing atrocity and the limits of , drawing on motifs of and to probe in acts of without explicit moral resolution. Critics noted its stylistic rigor, characterizing it as an "exercise in form" that eschews conventional narrative comfort for unrelenting confrontation with the visceral. The earned the Prix Sade in 2018 for its unflinching exploration of taboo eros and destruction, positioning it as Littell's third major prose fiction after Bad Voltage (1989) and Les Bienveillantes. Littell also produced shorter fictional pieces under the Fata Morgana imprint, including Les sorcières d'octobre, Les sorcières de novembre, and Les sorcières de décembre (published between 2013 and 2015), which form a loose of atmospheric tales evoking isolation and the in wintry European landscapes. These works, often under 100 pages each, shift toward mythic and oneiric modes, departing from the historical realism of his earlier breakthrough while maintaining a focus on human fragility amid existential threat. Collected in English as The Fata Morgana Books in 2013, they reflect Littell's experimentation with concise, elliptical prose amid his pivot toward reportage.

Non-Fiction and Journalistic Writings

In 2006, Littell published The Security Organs of the Russian Federation: A Brief History 1991–2004, a detailed analytical report on the structure, evolution, and operations of Russia's post-Soviet intelligence and security agencies, including the FSB, SVR, and , drawing from and his firsthand observations from humanitarian fieldwork in during the Second Chechen War. The work highlights the centralization of power under , the fusion of security organs with political control, and their role in suppressing , such as through tactics in the . Littell's journalistic output expanded with on-the-ground reporting from conflict zones. In November 2009, he contributed "Chechnya, Year III" to the London Review of Books, reflecting on the consolidation of power by Ramzan Kadyrov amid ongoing human rights abuses, informed by his 15 months of aid work in the region starting in 1999, where he documented the devastation from Russian military operations. In early 2012, Littell embedded as a war correspondent for Le Monde in Homs, Syria, during the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime, spending ten days amid shelling and sniper fire in rebel-held neighborhoods like Baba Amr. His dispatches captured the asymmetry of the conflict, with Free Syrian Army fighters facing superior government forces, civilian casualties from indiscriminate bombardment, and the radicalization spurred by regime atrocities. These experiences formed the basis of Syrian Notebooks: Inside the Homs Uprising (2015), a raw, unfiltered compilation of his field notes, interviews with combatants and victims, and photographs, emphasizing the human cost without editorial gloss and critiquing Western media's delayed focus on Assad's brutality over jihadist elements. More recently, in An Inconvenient Place (2024), co-authored with photographer Antoine d'Agata and published by , Littell examines Ukraine's "inconvenient" historical sites of atrocity—from the Nazi massacre at in 1941 to Russian war crimes in Bucha in 2022—through essays and images that trace patterns of erasure, Soviet-era denial, and post-2014 memorial struggles amid renewed invasion. The book argues for confronting layered traumas without politicized omission, linking extermination policies to contemporary tactics like information denial.

Reception, Controversies, and Critical Analysis

Acclaim and Literary Impact

Littell's novel The Kindly Ones (), written in French as Les Bienveillantes, achieved significant commercial success, selling over 250,000 copies in within months of its release and topping bestseller lists. By 2009, sales exceeded one million copies in alone. The work garnered major literary prizes, including the on November 6, , and the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, marking Littell as the first American author in recent memory to win both awards. Critics praised the novel for its literary ambition, historical depth, and unflinching portrayal of atrocities from a perpetrator's perspective, describing it as a "monumental literary achievement" and an "unquestionably brilliant success." Publications such as The Nation highlighted its intentional provocation and mastery, while others noted its hyperrealistic style akin to suppressed war criminal memoirs. The novel's impact extended to reshaping discussions in Holocaust literature, particularly through its innovative use of a Nazi SS officer's viewpoint, which exploited fiction to address perpetrator silence where historical accounts are scarce. It renewed debates on historical representation and the "grey zone" of perpetrator fiction, positioning it as a pivotal text in perpetrator studies and ekphrastic explorations of trauma. Translated into numerous languages, The Kindly Ones influenced subsequent works by challenging conventions in trauma narrative and ethical boundaries in depicting genocide.

Criticisms from Various Perspectives

Littell's The Kindly Ones (2006) drew sharp rebukes from literary critics for its graphic depictions of violence and sexuality, with some labeling the novel "death porn" or " porn" due to extended scenes of atrocities and incestuous encounters that overshadowed thematic depth. French reviewers also criticized its length—over 900 pages in English translation—and perceived stylistic excesses, including dream sequences and philosophical digressions that rendered the narrative tedious despite its ambition. Additionally, Littell received the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award in 2009 for particularly lurid passages, highlighting discomfort with the prose's explicitness. Historians and German critics faulted the book for factual errors, such as misrepresentations of operations and personnel, arguing that Littell's research, while voluminous, prioritized narrative convenience over precision. In , where the novel's 2008 sparked backlash, reviewers contended it exoticized evil through an implausibly intellectual Nazi , Maximilien Aue, whose erudition strained credibility and echoed outdated stereotypes rather than authentic perpetrator . Some academics further noted heavy-handed , where characters served as mouthpieces for debates on , undermining the fiction's immersion. Ethical critiques focused on the novel's perpetrator perspective, with detractors arguing it risked humanizing or sympathizing with a genocidal SS officer, potentially diluting Holocaust horror into voyeurism or relativism. Jewish critics, including Daniel Mendelsohn in The New York Review of Books, questioned whether Aue's unrepentant narration trivialized victims by centering the murderer's banal reflections, echoing concerns over "Holokitsch" that aestheticizes trauma without moral reckoning. In France, the choice of an American-born author writing in French about Nazi inner life fueled accusations of cultural appropriation and insufficient distance from the events, amplifying debates on who may fictionalize such history. These perspectives underscore broader unease with Littell's method of immersing readers in atrocity to provoke empathy, which opponents deemed manipulative rather than revelatory.

Debates on Historical Representation

Littell's The Kindly Ones (2006), narrated from the perspective of a fictional officer, Maximilien Aue, has ignited scholarly and critical debates over the ethical and aesthetic boundaries of representing through a perpetrator's viewpoint. Critics argue that this approach risks humanizing Nazi criminals by granting them interiority and psychological depth, potentially blurring the of their actions, as explored in analyses of the novel's ekphrastic depictions of atrocities, which blend historical documentation with fictional introspection. The novel's immersive style, drawing on Aue's firsthand accounts of events like the massacre and interactions with figures such as , prompts questions about whether such narrative empathy fosters understanding of ideological radicalization or inadvertently aestheticizes . Proponents of Littell's method highlight its grounding in meticulous , incorporating verifiable historical details from Nazi records and eyewitness testimonies to reconstruct the bureaucratic and operational machinery of the , thereby avoiding sensationalism in favor of causal realism in perpetrator . This fidelity—evident in depictions of operations and logistics—positions the work as a counter to victim-centered narratives, aiming to elucidate how ordinary intellectuals enabled without relying on postwar myths of collective German amnesia. However, detractors, including some French historians upon the novel's 2006 award, have contested specific inaccuracies, such as Aue's fabricated role in Reinhard Heydrich's aftermath, arguing that fictional liberties undermine the representational limits imposed by the Holocaust's and the imperative to prioritize survivor testimonies over invented perpetrator monologues. These debates extend to broader questions of literary in , where Littell's text is scrutinized for potentially violating Adorno's warning against writing poetry after Auschwitz by transforming horror into a stylistic tour de force, complete with classical allusions and scatological motifs that some view as relativism rather than rigorous historical interrogation. Academic collections, such as Writing the Holocaust Today (2014), compile perspectives emphasizing how the novel's perpetrator focus challenges taboos on Nazi interiority, yet risks commodifying trauma in a post-memory era dominated by mediated images over empirical archives. While Littell's research—spanning years in German archives—bolsters claims of authenticity, the consensus in literary remains divided: the novel advances causal insights into fascist but demands vigilant reader discernment to prevent conflating plausibility with historical .

Awards and Honors

Major Literary Prizes

Jonathan Littell's novel Les Bienveillantes (2006), published in French, was awarded the on November 6, 2006, 's highest literary honor, selected by the Académie Goncourt for its unflinching depiction of Nazi atrocities through the perspective of an SS officer. The prize, carrying a monetary award of €10 at the time but immense prestige that boosted sales to over 700,000 copies in within months, recognized the work's stylistic ambition and historical depth despite its controversial subject matter. Earlier that year, on October 26, 2006, Les Bienveillantes received the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, an accolade from France's foremost literary institution honoring outstanding narrative achievement. This dual recognition marked Littell, an American-born author writing in French, as a rare outsider to dominate French literary accolades, with the Académie praising the novel's rigorous research and moral complexity. No other works by Littell have garnered comparable major prizes, though subsequent publications like The Favour (2019) received nominations for lesser awards in European literary circles.

Other Recognitions

In 2009, Littell received the Bad Sex in Fiction Award from the for passages depicting sexual encounters in The Kindly Ones, a satirical intended to discourage overwrought or clichéd descriptions of intimacy in . Littell was awarded the Prix Sade in 2018 for his novella Une vieille histoire, which explores themes of eroticism and ; the , named after the , recognizes works advancing literary representations of desire and transgression. The Kindly Ones also earned him the Athens Prize for Literature, acknowledging its engagement with classical themes from Aeschylus's .

Views on Contemporary Conflicts

Commentary on Chechnya and Syria

Jonathan Littell has drawn on his experiences as an aid worker and journalist to critique the authoritarian governance and violence in under Russian influence and Ramzan Kadyrov's rule. During the Second Chechen War, which began in 1999, Littell provided to victims of Russia's "anti-terrorist operation," witnessing widespread destruction in and surrounding areas where Russian forces leveled infrastructure and displaced populations. In a 2009 article for the London Review of Books, he described Chechnya under Kadyrov—installed as president in 2007—as a system of pervasive , where state resources were siphoned for personal gain and loyalty to , exemplified by Kadyrov's control over reconstruction funds amid ongoing abductions and of suspected insurgents. Littell highlighted extra-judicial executions and a climate of fear, noting that Kadyrov's forces operated with , often targeting civilians under the guise of counter-terrorism, which he linked to Russia's broader strategy of repression to local . He argued that this model stabilized the region superficially for Putin but entrenched a mafia-like , preventing genuine reconciliation or economic normalcy, as evidenced by persistent dissatisfaction among over arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances reported in 2009. Littell's commentary on centers on his embedding with fighters in during February 2012, at the height of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime, which he documented in dispatches for and later compiled as Syrian Notebooks. He reported systematic targeting of civilians by regime snipers and militias, including the bombardment of neighborhoods like Baba Amr, where over 1,000 deaths occurred in the siege's early phase, and the deliberate hunting of medical personnel to deny care to wounded protesters. Littell portrayed the initial revolt as driven by ordinary Syrians seeking an end to Ba'athist and state brutality, rather than Islamist , though he observed early signs of among fighters who warned that Western inaction could push them toward jihadist alliances if Assad received sustained support. In a Spiegel , he expressed fears that Assad's Alawite-dominated forces' atrocities—estimated at thousands killed in by mid-2012—could ignite sectarian spillover into and beyond, fracturing multi-confessional societies along ethnic lines. While acknowledging mutual rhetoric of from regime and rebel sides, Littell emphasized the asymmetry of power, with Assad's military—bolstered by Iranian and aid—escalating the conflict from protests into a , underscoring how regime intransigence prolonged suffering and eroded the uprising's democratic core.

Perspectives on Ukraine and Russia

Jonathan Littell has expressed staunch support for in its defense against 's full-scale invasion launched on February 24, 2022, portraying the conflict as a struggle against Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime, which he describes as fascist and reliant on violence for survival. In multiple op-eds and interviews, Littell argues that Putin's power originated from the Second Chechen War in 1999, which propelled him from to president by March 2000 through promises of military dominance, and that the Ukraine war must similarly lead to his downfall via battlefield failure and elite defection. He contends that Putin underestimated Ukrainian resistance, having internalized expecting a quick surrender to "liberators," but faced instead a unified defense with over 1 million armed personnel by 2023. Littell maintains that Russia has suffered irrecoverable losses, including over 200,000 troops and half its armored vehicles by early 2023, alongside economic isolation from sanctions that have severed European energy markets and positioned as a Chinese dependency. He insists that "nothing will change politically in until is defeated in ," advocating for a decisive humiliation to dismantle the regime, drawing historical parallels to the defeats of Tsars Nicholas I and II or the . In a March 2022 Guardian piece, he urged expanded Western sanctions targeting thousands of senior officials, not merely oligarchs, to precipitate internal collapse. Criticizing Western allies for signaling restraint—such as delays in delivering long-range missiles or aircraft—Littell argues in a March 2023 that these hesitations allow Putin to evade acknowledging defeat, despite Russia's depleted precision munitions and Ukraine's tactical innovations. He views the West as already engaged in a "slow war" with through sanctions, aid, and countermeasures against and energy leverage, but calls for escalation short of direct intervention, including full oil embargoes and unrestricted arms to enable Ukrainian victory. Addressing Russians directly in a March 2022 open letter, Littell implored his "friends of soul and spirit" to launch their own Maidan-style uprising against Putin, leveraging online coordination despite repression risks, as Ukrainians did in 2014 to thwart regime change. He has reported from , including in 2022, discussing Russian war crimes like those in Bucha and framing the invasion as continuous with historical atrocities, a theme explored in his 2024 book An Inconvenient Place, which juxtaposes Nazi massacres at with contemporary Russian actions. In podcasts and interviews, Littell equates Putin's system to , sustained by elite enrichment rather than popular support, and warns that without defeat, it poses an existential threat beyond .

Personal Life

Family and Relationships

Littell was born on October 10, 1967, in New York City to the American novelist Robert Littell, known for espionage thrillers such as The Company. His mother is French, contributing to his bilingual upbringing split between the United States and France, where he acquired dual citizenship. Littell has a brother, Jesse Littell, a painter. Public details on his relationships remain scarce, as he has consistently maintained privacy regarding marital status, partners, or children, with no verified reports of such in biographical accounts.

Residences and Lifestyle

Jonathan Littell was born in New York City on October 10, 1967, and spent much of his early life in France following his family's relocation there during his childhood. By the mid-2000s, he had settled in Barcelona, Spain, where he has maintained his primary residence. Literary agencies and profiles confirm his ongoing base in Spain, with no public indications of relocation since. Littell's lifestyle reflects a commitment to privacy, centered on writing and intellectual pursuits rather than public appearances. Prior to his literary career, he worked in , including roles with organizations such as and , experiences that informed his later journalistic forays into conflict zones like , , and . As a dual citizen of the and , he writes predominantly in French and occasionally contributes essays or reports, maintaining a low-profile existence in away from mainstream media spotlight.

References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7139531/bio/
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  4. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/141301.Jonathan_Littell
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  10. https://student-journals.ucl.ac.uk/opticon/article/id/928/
  11. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7139531/
  12. https://www.salon.com/2007/02/27/jonathan_littell/
  13. https://www.rbth.com/arts/333235-jonathan-littell-kindly-ones
  14. https://sobrief.com/authors/jonathan-littell
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  21. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/nyregion/novelist-helps-a-chechen-hit-the-books-in-america.html
  22. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2022/03/28/jonathan-littell-to-my-russian-friends_5979207_23.html
  23. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/11/07/americans-nazi-narrated-book-wins-frances-top-prize/a40e7d9a-49cf-40cd-8500-10f58e3d74c2/
  24. https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/author-jonathan-littell-on-the-syrian-massacre-in-homs-a-844063.html
  25. https://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000024-000007-000001&lang=1
  26. https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/action-against-hunger-enters-inside-chechnya-and-prepares-assistance
  27. http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000002-000001-000009&lang=1
  28. https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/chechnya-action-contre-la-faim-temporarily-suspends-its-programmes
  29. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/06/news.prixgoncourt
  30. https://www.themodernnovel.org/americas/other-americas/usa/littell/bienveillantes/
  31. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/22/history-holocaust-books-jonathan-littell
  32. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/books/24kaku.html
  33. https://andrewnurnberg.com/book/une-vieille-histoire-roman-an-old-story-novel/
  34. https://www.amazon.fr/Une-vieille-histoire-Jonathan-Littell/dp/2072776848
  35. https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2126&context=sttcl
  36. https://www.culture-tops.fr/critique-evenement/romans/une-vieille-histoire-nouvelle-version
  37. https://www.babelio.com/livres/Littell-Une-vieille-histoire/965052
  38. https://andrewnurnberg.com/book-author/jonathan-littell/
  39. https://www.lovereading.co.uk/author/Jonathan-Littell/gd/Jonathan-Littell.html
  40. https://psan.hypotheses.org/files/2011/11/littel-total-sans-org.doc
  41. https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Russian_society_under_control.pdf
  42. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n22/jonathan-littell/chechnya-year-iii
  43. https://www.nybooks.com/online/2015/03/18/syrian-notebooks-what-happened-in-homs/
  44. https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/an-inconvenient-place/
  45. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/us-authors-nazi-novel-wins-french-book-prize-idUSL06193374/
  46. https://sobrief.com/books/the-kindly-ones
  47. https://academic.oup.com/book/59629/chapter/503884117
  48. https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/22516857/_Terrorizing_Images_Ekphrasis_and_the_Holocaust_Traumatic_Images_in_Jonathan_Littell_s_The_Kindly_Ones.pdf
  49. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/jls-2022-2057/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOopwtyvOtGAIZFEkuqD6te8itLoqxz71XlmzqRkx3BZ7lRdSfODs
  50. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1750698009355674
  51. https://www.amazon.com/Kindly-Ones-Jonathan-Littell/dp/0061353450
  52. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/books/review/Gates-t.html
  53. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/jonathan-littell/
  54. https://read.dukeupress.edu/new-german-critique/article-abstract/36/1%2520%28106%29/21/33029/On-the-German-Reaction-to-Jonathan-Littell-s-Les
  55. https://biblioklept.org/2011/05/05/jonathan-littells-the-kindly-ones-is-lurid-abject-art/
  56. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.1093/frebul/ktn033
  57. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/03/26/transgression/
  58. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/28/kindly-ones-review
  59. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09639480903504193
  60. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26289677
  61. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/pdf/10.1093/frebul/ktn033?download=true
  62. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265878145_Writing_the_Holocaust_Today_Critical_Perspectives_on_Jonathan_Littell%27s_%27The_Kindly_Ones%27_ed_by_Aurelie_Barjonet_and_Liran_Razinsky_review
  63. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780823265503-007/html?lang=en
  64. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/1401900
  65. https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2006/11/06/le-prix-goncourt-a-ete-attribue-a-jonathan-littell_831147_3246.html
  66. https://www.gallimard.fr/catalogue/les-bienveillantes/9782070780976
  67. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/30/bad-sex-award-jonathan-littell-kindly-ones
  68. https://www.npr.org/2009/12/01/120974433/u-s-author-wins-britains-bad-sex-in-fiction-award
  69. https://actualitte.com/article/16840/prix-litteraires/jonathan-littell-devient-le-prix-sade-2018-avec-une-vieille-histoire
  70. https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/jonathan-littell-couronne-par-le-prix-sade-2018
  71. https://www.waynakh.com/eng/2009/12/jonathan-lithell-this-is-the-kadirovs-chechnya/
  72. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n05/jonathan-littell/syrian-notebooks
  73. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/20/syrian-security-forces-target-doctors
  74. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/21/homs-snipers-target-anyone
  75. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/05/arab-spring-revolution-was-made-everyday-people
  76. https://www.rferl.org/a/interview-jonathan-littell-journalist-russia-defeat-ukraine/32549338.html
  77. https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts/ep-156
  78. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/03/vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-chechnya
  79. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/03/12/jonathan-littell-putin-has-already-lost-the-war-but-we-are-not-doing-what-is-necessary-to-force-him-to-accept-that_6019059_23.html
  80. https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/04/we-are-already-at-war-with-russia
  81. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/06/27/from-babi-yar-to-bucha
  82. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/arts/06iht-littell.3420295.html
  83. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/books/a-french-sensation-finds-a-us-publisher.html
  84. https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/authors/jonathan-littell-and-antoine-dagata/
  85. https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonathan-littell
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