Rage on the Page: Putting scandal on trial in ‘The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum’

Nov. 13, 2024, 9:50 p.m.

In her column “Rage on the Page,” Melisa Guleryuz ’27 reviews books about anger in women’s literature.

Imagine this: a reserved, polite woman meets a guy at a party, spends one night with him and the next morning, she’s a social pariah. Welcome to Katharina’s world, where minding her own business lands her in the middle of a media firestorm. Henrich Böll’s “The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum,” is a short, fiery book that will have you looking sideways at every tabloid headline and dramatic news story you’ve ever believed. 

From page one, Böll grabs readers by the throat. There’s no easing into this story. Instead, it opens with: “On the morning of February 20, Katharina Blum killed the journalist Werner Tötges.” In one cold sentence, readers are dropped into the aftermath of a brutal crime. And yet, we soon learn it was oddly justified. Katharina, a soft-spoken housekeeper with a spotless record, finally snapped because the media has been ravenously dissecting her private life. 

The police come knocking, reporters start hounding her and suddenly, she’s painted in the news as some kind of master manipulator. In the tabloids, she is portrayed as a fervent accomplice of suspected bank robber Ludwig Götten. Now, you’d think someone might take a moment to ask her what actually happened. But no, Katharina’s honor is no more, and everyone has an opinion about it. For centuries, women have been punished, scrutinized and humiliated for associating with the wrong man. This 1974 novel uses a satirical situation to drive this point home.

Katharina becomes an example of how quickly a woman’s life can be commandeered and redefined by others. Böll understands and illustrates with dark humor how society uses Katharina’s one mistake as an excuse to erase a woman’s identity altogether. He writes, “One error can cancel out the consequences of a thousand correct decisions.” Katharina’s life, once private and peaceful, is sliced and diced until there’s nothing left of her real self — only the caricature the press has created.

Katharina’s “honor” is systematically dismantled for public consumption and turned into fodder for people like Werner Tötges, the journalist Böll describes as having “the moral certainty of a medieval inquisitor.” The book introduces Tötges — the murder victim — with a heavy dose of sarcasm, describing him as a journalist who digs into Katharina’s life with the subtlety of a wrecking ball. Tötges is the epitome of tabloid ruthlessness, bulldozing through Katharina’s privacy to satisfy society’s hunger for scandal.

“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” is all about what drove her to murder him. Murder doesn’t lend itself to easy justification — for Katharina, she’s just hit her breaking point. The act is Katharina’s tragic declaration of independence. 

The book’s title is more than just a reference to extreme public shaming. It is a critique of society’s ambiguous definition of “honor.” Katharina doesn’t “lose” her honor by doing something dishonorable. Rather, her honor is stolen from her by a society that prefers neat, moralistic tales over complex truths.

“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” is way ahead of its time in understanding the media’s power to ruin lives. If this book were written today, Katharina would be plastered across social media, her private life dug up, her every move analyzed. It is stated that Katharina was treated like “public property,” and this was back in the ’70s!

“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” pulls the audience in as accomplices, too. The reader becomes part of the spectacle, gawking at Katharina’s downfall as eagerly as the tabloid readers. The narrator who presents the story as a detached confidential report writes, “No scandal attracts more attention than the one that involved a dumb innocent person.” The brutal line calls out our collective addiction to gossip and scandal. We are all complicit in this world that rewards tearing people down.

The murder itself is only “justifiable” in that it is a cathartic moment both for Katharina and the reader. It reminds us that society’s judgments can drive people to extremes. And, as a feminist reader, it’s impossible not to see that this book is about that pent-up fury so many women know all too well — the kind that builds up over a lifetime of people making decisions about your life, reputation and worth without giving you a say. 

All told, “The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” is the kind of book that sticks with you. While it is depressing at times, its satire is so sharp and its feminist critique so spot-on, that it’s hard not to appreciate the genius behind it. Katharina exposes society’s ugly tendency to tear down women for the sake of entertainment, profit and the comfort of a story that is not concerned with accuracy.

In today’s world of viral shaming and moral policing, Katharina Blum’s story reads as a cautionary tale that could have been ripped from the latest headline. It invites us to ask tough questions about the way we treat women who defy expectations. The book’s irony and dark humor might make us chuckle, but the message is dead serious: society’s readiness to destroy a woman’s life says more about our “honor” than it ever could about hers.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

Melisa Ezgi Guleryuz is a writer for The Daily. Contact them at news ‘at’ stanforddaily.com.

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