Setting Free the Bears (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: John Irving
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Comic realism
- Time of Work: Spring and summer of 1967, with flashbacks to the years 1938-1955
- Setting: Primarily Austria and Yugoslavia
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s
- Locales: Austria
Characters Discussed
Hannes Graff (HAHN-nehs grahf), a failed university student who narrates the first (“Siggy”) and third (“Setting Them Free”) sections of the novel. A naïve, easygoing young man, Hannes first encounters Siggy Javotnik eating salted radishes on a bench in Rathaus Park, then later sees him in Herr Faber’s motorcycle shop. Hannes initially is a follower, a student in search of order; his experience with Siggy forces him to act according to his own conscience, though his actions cause harm, suffering, and loss.
Siegfried (Siggy) Javotnik...
[The entire page is 938 words long]
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